


Teach Me How To Fly

by Wizzy



Series: Love Is A Crazy Thing (Haikyuu Love Stories) [11]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Best Friends, Bokuto Koutarou & Kuroo Tetsurou Friendship, Crushes, F/M, Fukuroudani, Karasuno, Nekoma, Owls, Secrets, Teenagers, aoba johsai, bro love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-07 07:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 27,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5447849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wizzy/pseuds/Wizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We'd never really talked before. In fact, I'd always made it a point to avoid him. But Fate had another plan in store. Now here we are and my life is relying on the one person I've tried so hard to stay away from. But hey, at least he'll never know it's me, so I can be any way I want, right? I can be someone confident and strong and I won't feel flustered at all. At least, that's what I hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My New Best Friend

“No.” The words were out Akaashi's mouth before Bokuto even had a chance to ask the question.

Bokuto looked down at the little animal in his hands. He didn't want to let it go yet. “But-”

“No,” he said in a more firm voice. Now, normally I'd agree with Akaashi and any decision he made, but for once in my life, I was actually on the captain's side.

Of course, that might only have been because of where I was right now and that just so happened to be in the goofball ace's hands. Yep, I'm the little owl he's currently holding and begging Akaashi to let him keep. I wasn't always an owl though.

In fact, I'd only become one last night. How it happened I'll never know, but the last thing I remembered doing was saying to myself that I wished I could just get away from my life and fly away into the night like an owl... then when I woke up the next morning, I was in for the surprise of my life. Oh if only I'd said something that would have been easier to survive as.

Being unable to fend for myself, I'd had to search for someone,  _anyone_ who could help me out. And guess who I found first? You guessed it, the owl-haired ace who was now holding onto me. Lucky for me, he saw the owl thing as cool and had immediately picked me up and carried me to school with him.

Obviously though, he couldn't bring an owl to class with him. Even he knew that; so I spent the day outside. Most of that time was spent trying to figure out how my new wings worked. Every time I failed though, I swore the birds sitting up on the power lines were laughing at me.

Bokuto came out during lunch to see if I was still around. A smile lit his face and he spent quite awhile talking with me and even shared a bit of lunch with me. I even tried to show him that I'd been trying to fly, but that only ended in failure. But when Bokuto laughed at that, I felt myself smiling. Maybe being an owl wouldn't be too bad.

And now here we were, standing in front of his teammates just before volleyball practice. Akaashi shook his head again. “Owls aren't supposed to be awake during the day, so it's probably sick,” he said in his usual cold tone. “Just go leave it in a tree somewhere.”

As Bokuto started to argue with the vice captain, I opened my beak to speak. “I'm not diseased, you jerk! I'm not even a real owl! Don't you dare leave me in a tree!” Or that's what I tried to say. In the end it only came out as angry screeching and squawking.

All of their teammates burst out laughing. “You just got cussed out by an owl.”

“He's smart,” Bokuto said with a grin. “And he can't fly.”

I screeched at him once, trying to tell him he'd said something wrong. Of course, without a voice he no idea what I was actually saying.

Akaashi looked down at me, still held carefully in the ace's hands. “Toss him up gently, but don't catch him.” Was he crazy? Bokuto just said that I couldn't fly! Why would he tell him to do something like that? I could seriously get hurt if I fell. When Bokuto did nothing, the setter repeated it. “Just do it. It won't get hurt.”

The energetic ace looked down at me before doing as the cold-hearted boy had told him. No surprise, I fell to the ground. No matter how much I tried to flap my little wings, all it did was slow the fall and keep me from getting hurt. I cast a quick glare at Fukurodani's vice captain before walking over and tugging at my new best friend's sock.

“Fine, if you want to keep it, keep it.” Bokuto's face lit up at Akaashi's words. Never does he give in to the childish ace's demands and desires, so this was a huge deal for him. “But if it's a distraction then it has to go.”


	2. Cheer Up

The coaches weren't thrilled about Bokuto bringing an owl to practice. But they reluctantly let me stay. I guess they figured it was better to put up with me instead of having to deal with Bokuto when he's in one of his moods.

In the beginning, I sat on the bench and just watched. There was little else I could do otherwise. But when the boys went out for a run, I decided I should use this time to do something too. Maybe I could practice flying. But first I had to find a way to get down from this bench.

I looked over towards the team's managers. They wouldn't be any help though. The two girls had looked as disapproving as the coaches and Akaashi about my presence here. No, I was on my own without Bokuto.

Mentally sighing, I wandered over to the edge of the bench. If I could fly, getting down would be no problem. But then again, I wouldn't have to do anything if I could fly. I looked down and the floor. It was a short drop, so I probably would be okay if I just dropped like earlier when Akaashi had told Bokuto to throw me.

Silently hoping this would work, I launched myself over the edge. The managers watched as I hit the ground and then stood up, giving my body a little shake. “Think it'll go looking for Bokuto?” the younger one asked the older one.

“It seems pretty attached to him,” the older said. Even though it might have seemed that way, I really only stuck with him because he was the only chance I had for surviving. Pretty bad luck having to rely on someone like him, huh?

 _Okay, time to figure this flying thing out,_ I thought to myself. There had to be a reason why I hadn't been able to get it so far. Maybe I had to move my wings perfectly at the exact same time? I decided to try it.

First attempt: failure. Second: failure. Twentieth: I managed to float for about a foot before failure. It was progress, but not good enough. After forty-seven attempts, I decided to take a break. The boys were finally back from their run anyway.

After walking back over to the bench, I convinced the younger manager to put me back up there. As the boys continued with their practice, I sat and quietly watched. But as it went on, Bokuto started messing up. Soon, the mistakes got bigger and bigger until finally he self-destructed.

While I might never have been close to the ace, or even had a conversation with the guy, I'd at least heard about his little mood swings. However, this was the first time I'd ever actually seen them. It hurt to watch him.

He didn't look like he was going to snap out of it anytime soon. Even if I didn't really know him that well, I felt like I had to do something. Without thinking or hesitating, I jumped off the bench and flew over to the depressed ace.

Landing safely on his shoulder, I quickly rubbed the top of my feathery head on his cheek. “Cheer up, Bokuto. You can do it,” I said to him, though I knew he couldn't understand what I was saying. But hopefully he could at least pick up on the fact that I was trying to cheer him up.

It wasn't until this moment that I realized how I'd gotten up there. All my previous attempts to fly had ended in failure and a collision with the floor, but just now I'd flown without even trying. But could I do it again? That question was quickly answered when I made an attempt to fly back to the bench that resulted in me falling straight to the floor.

Shaking it off, I walked back to my previous place and smiled when I noticed that Bokuto was recovering from his breakdown. I stayed there watching him until the end of practice.

As the boys were getting things put away, I decided to help. I was here, so why not try to be useful? Being an owl though, I couldn't do much besides roll a few volleyballs to where they had to go. The two managers, as well as Bokuto and a few of his teammates, found this amusing.

When all was done, I found myself being scooped up and set on the ace's shoulder. “So it can't fly, huh?” the younger manager, Kaori I think her name was, asked.

“He's been trying to do it all day, but he just keeps falling.” As much as I wanted to correct Bokuto, it was currently impossible. Even if I tried, he'd never understand what I was trying to say. So for now, I had to let him go on calling me a boy. “He's a stubborn little guy.”

“Your mother is never going to let you keep it,” Akaashi's calm voice interrupted the conversation. He was probably right, but I was counting on that very slim, almost non-existent chance that he would be wrong. “Even if it is smart and can't fly.”

“I'm keeping him.” Bokuto sounded so certain of it. All I could do now was hope that he was wrong. Never thought I'd ever be taking Bokuto's side over Akaashi's...


	3. A New Home

“No.” So much for hoping Akaashi was wrong.

If the coaches were irritated, Bokuto's mother was pissed. She definitely had that motherly what-the-hell-are-you-thinking look on her face. But could you really blame her? Her seventeen year old son had just walked through the front door holding a tiny owl in his hands. Not some realistic looking stuffed animal, a living, breathing owl.

“Please?” Trying to help, I echoed the word. That earned me a look from his mom. Though I couldn't tell if it was one of surprise or annoyance.

“Absolutely not!”

It didn't look like we were doing a good job of convincing her. “But he can't even fly!” After seeing it once before, I recognized the signs that Bokuto was starting to show. He was getting ready to self-destruct again. That could either make this more troublesome or win us this discussion.

“You are not keeping that thing and that's final!”

 

Yeah, she totally gave in.

Bokuto's family was pretty normal, which was a bit of a surprise to me. Then again, the world could never handle another Bokuto, so it was probably a good thing that his family was not like him.

Dinner with them was interesting. At that time I sat on Bokuto's shoulder, watching him as well as his parents and younger sister. The three of them were talking to each other about normal things like school and work and the occasional mention of Bokuto's sister's friends. The childish ace, however, was too busy stuffing his face to talk. I'd never seen him so quiet before.

Sometimes he'd share a bit of his food with me. His mother didn't notice that for a long time, but when she did, I could practically hear her thoughts saying, “How did I end up with a son like him?” It was then I tried to use my feet to make a sort of thumbs up signal, but that's not so easy if you don't have a thumb. That earned me surprised looks from his family and a loud laugh from Bokuto.

After that was all over with, I found myself sitting in Bokuto's room. He was currently doing something somewhere else in the house, probably showering or something since he didn't do that right after practice, so I decided to explore around the bedroom.

It was surprisingly clean, except the desk over by the window. It had several papers scattered about as well as a few books. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who reads, so I assumed they were for school. Maybe that would be a good place to check out first... if I could figure out how to get over there.

After a failed attempt at flying there, a voice called out to me. “I guess you can't fly, huh?” I turned my head to see Bokuto's sister standing in the doorway. No one had mentioned her name, so I had yet to learn it. “That explains how Kou got a hold of you.”

Slowly she walked over and lifted me up. “You wanted up here, right?” she smiled, setting down on the desk. “I kinda feel sorry for you, you know? My brother's a nice guy and his heart's in the right place and all, but he's kind of an idiot. Living with him is bad enough for me, but you're kinda stuck with him more than I am. I can't imagine all the stupid things he'll do with you.”

Inside, I was laughing a little. Compared to Bokuto, his sister was as normal as you could possibly get. It was a nice change. Maybe she would actually understand better than he would. That was when I had an idea.

I reached over and grabbed on of the pencils off the desk. But as I tried to figured out how to hold it, I realized it was a bit big for me. So I set it down and searched for a smaller one. Finally finding one, I tried to write with it. Unsurprisingly, it was about as easy as writing with your feet as a human. But after a bit of work I manage to scribble out one word.

“Girl?” Bokuto's sister asked, looking down at the very messily written word. “You're a girl?” I nodded.

“What?!” Oh, looks like he's back. The two of us looked over to see Bokuto standing by the door... in nothing but his underwear.

“Koutaro, put some clothes on!”

He ignored his sister's words. “You mean I've been calling him a boy all this time and he was really a girl?” Bokuto was starting to look like he was going to self-destruct again. Guess Akaashi wasn't kidding when he'd said that even the littlest things could change his mood.

“You're hopeless,” his sister said to herself before leaving the room. Luckily, her harshness had just distracted him from what he'd been thinking, saving me from having to deal with a self-destructed Bokuto. “And put your clothes on!”

Before anything else could happen, his phone signaled that he had a new message. As he picked it up and looked at it, a big, idiotic smile appeared on his face. “It's Kuroo!”

Something tells me it's going to be a long night...


	4. Picture Time

Even though I'd never actually met Kuroo, I'd certainly heard enough about him from Akaashi. Supposedly he and Bokuto were close friends, often getting each other into all sorts of trouble. Or that's the impression I got from the way Akaashi had described him.

Kuroo's texts now though made he seem much more innocent that my friend had said. He simply mentioned an upcoming practice match with Nekoma, which I guessed was his school. Thinking back, I thought I'd heard the coaches mentioning it sometime during practice.

As Bokuto was laying back on his bed, typing away on his phone with a smile on his face. It was one of the kinds of smiles that makes you wonder just what is so amusing. Curiosity getting the better of me, I made my way over to where I could see what he was saying.

Now, normally I wouldn't do such a thing. I was the type to always respect someone's boundaries and personal space. Bu then again, I also normally went out of my way to avoid Bokuto. It's not that there was anything wrong with him; I just didn't like that feeling I got only when I was around him.

The conversation with Kuroo was like any other you'd see between two guys who were really good friends. Or it was until Bokuto remembered the presence of a tiny little owl that he'd found this morning. Then the situation took a weird and pretty fun turn. He snapped a quick picture and sent it to Kuroo, who responded with a cat picture.

So what did Bokuto do? Yep. He took another picture and sent it. Once again the reply was a cat picture.

The ace scowled slightly and then smiled as he got an idea. Before I knew he had me doing all sorts of poses for the camera, each one crazier than the last. He'd show me what to do and I'd try my best to mimic it. But still, Kuroo seemed unfazed and fought back with hoards of funny cat photos.

In the end though, we won. The final picture was just a simple one with me sitting up on his shoulder, but it was enough to earn actually words from the so-called provocation expert.

_What the hell are you doing with an owl?_

After awhile of explaining, Kuroo finally stopped responding, probably to get some sleep since it was getting late. Bokuto yawned, tired out from the very eventful day. But as he laid back in his bed, he didn't try to sleep just yet.

“You know, you need a name,” he smiled, picking me up by my... if I were human it's be by my armpits, but since I'm an owl, I guess they wouldn't be called that... maybe they'd be called wingpits? Who cares anyway?

A soft, almost sad expression swept across his face. This was something I'd never seen on the cheerful boy before. “Thanks for before,” he said, though I wasn't totally sure what he meant. “When you flew up to me during practice and cheered me up, you reminded me of the girl that I like.”

“She's sweet and kind and really shy. I've never been able to talk to her since she always runs away from me.” Something about what he was saying sounded familiar, but he couldn't have been talking about me. Not possible. We barely even knew each other before today and he didn't even know who I was. “She really beautiful too. I always see her cheering up other people, even if she barely knows them.”

“I think her name fits you pretty well...” Until the name left his lips, I couldn't believe he could have even noticed my existence before I'd become an owl. But when I heard that name spoken by his voice, I didn't know what to say. He'd just named me after myself and he had no idea.


	5. Smart Owl

I was a bit disappointed to see that I was still an owl when morning came. Though it would be really hard to explain why I was in Bokuto's bed if I were human again. He'd cuddled with me until he'd fallen asleep, and then I'd simply stayed put. I'd been far too tired after such a crazy day.

My second day with Bokuto was a bit different than the first. Today there wasn't any school, but the volleyball club still had practice. Luckily though, it was in the morning, that way everyone could still do other things on their day off.

Like before, I was dragged along to it. But this morning was a bit colder than yesterday and Bokuto seemed a bit worried. I didn't see why he was worried, he had his warm jacket on to keep out the cool air. It wasn't until he'd tucked me inside his jacket, my head poking out right next to his, that I understood what he was thinking. Or, as much as what could be understood. He was either worried that I wouldn't be warm enough, or that he wouldn't. It didn't matter which though, because I had something else on my mind.

This was a lot closer to Bokuto than I'd ever thought I'd get.

As he'd mentioned before, I always ran away from him. It wasn't because I disliked him or even that he was a bad guy... it was something much different. In fact, I liked that energetic ace a lot. But no matter how much I would have loved to be close to him, I'd always felt too flustered to get anywhere near him.

He hadn't been wrong when he'd said I was shy, but I never actually felt shy around anyone. The moment I first saw Bokuto, that was suddenly different. My heart had felt all fluttery and I knew that if I had to talk to him, there was no way I could have done it without stuttering. So I decided that I'd avoid him anytime he got anywhere near me. A bit ironic now, considering the situation.

 

Practice went by without any incidents. Bokuto had a few mood swings, but nothing like the day before. Which that was a good thing because I wasn't so sure I could cheer him up like last time. After it was over, since they was no school today, the two of us returned to his home.

As Bokuto disappeared somewhere again, I was left to wander around on my own. This time though, I'd decided to explore around the rest of what seemed to have become my new home. If I was going to be here for awhile, then I'd better get used to the way things were.

While looking around, I noticed Bokuto's younger sister along with two unfamiliar faces sitting at the table. It looked like they were studying or doing homework, but I couldn't tell for sure.

“Why is there an owl in your house?” one of the other two girls asked, seeing me walk over to where Bokuto's sister was sitting. That drew the attention of the other two girls.

“Hey Kisa,” Bokuto's sister said, smiling down at me. I wondered how she knew my name, but I figured it was just because Bokuto had been talking too loud last night. Akaashi had once said that Bokuto didn't know how to whisper, so when he thought he was whispering, he was really just talking normally and that when he thought he was talking normal, he was actually loud.

His sister, who now that I thought about it was named Miku, picked me up from the floor and set me onto the table next to her. “Kou brought her home last night.” She patted my head and laughed a little to her friends. “I'm surprised mom let him keep her, but no one can argue with Koutaro. Her name's Kisa.”

“Why would he bring an owl home?” the other friend questioned.

“It's Koutaro,” Miku said, shaking her head in disapproval of her brother's many antics. I was pretty sure I didn't want to know about all of those. “Don't ever question anything he does; you'll only end up with an eternal headache.”

The three girls laughed and I couldn't help but join in. Of course, my laugh didn't sound like it used to now that I was an owl and instead came out as funny-sounding hoots. This brought us even more laughter.

“Hey Miku, do you know number three?” one of the girls asked after the laughing died down. Looking at the paper she was writing on, I read that her name was Mayako. Looking at the paper a little more, I saw some familiar math problems. If I could have spoken to her, I could very easily have told her how to do it.

Miku shook her head. Mayako looked at the other, whose name I learned was Eri. But none of the girls knew. Luckily though, someone who actually could talk walked into the room... thankfully at least wearing pants this time.

“Do you know how to do this one?” Mayako asked Bokuto, adjusting her glasses a bit.

“Of course!” Bokuto looked down at the problem on the page. I watched him stare for a moment, his face scrunching up in concentration.

He wasn't going to get it. It had been three years since he'd learned that stuff and with what I'd seen, he wasn't exactly the brightest guy. However, this would have been incredibly easy for me, since I was taking the more advanced classes. Or it would have been if I weren't stuck as an owl.

Bokuto scowled at the page awhile longer before I finally realized I was the only one with a chance at helping. Mentally sighing, I wandered over to Miku and picked up her pencil. But just like the night before, this one was too long for me to use. Realizing the issue, Bokuto's younger sister ran off and then returned a moment later with the same pencil I'd used last night.

The other three just stared in shock as I took the stubby pencil from the girl's hand and then tugged the paper away from Bokuto. The four then watched in interest as I attempted to write out what I needed to. It was slightly easier than last night, but it took much longer and came out a lot neater.

When I was finished, the smartest of the three girls, Mayako, looked it over. “I think she's right...” she said uncertainly. “But I didn't even know how to do it in the first place, so I don't know...”

All of us thought a moment before I had an idea. There was someone I knew of that would know for sure how to help them. Picking up the pencil one more time, I scribbled out the name of person who had come to mind.

As soon as I set the pencil back down and Bokuto had read the name, he instantly picked up on what I was hinting at. “I know! We'll send him a picture of it and he can tell us!” the ace said excitedly, snapping a picture of the math problem and sending it to his best friend. “Akaashi's super smart. He's in one of the advanced classes, just like Kisa!”

Mayako and Eri exchanged confused glances. “I thought Kisa was the owl?”

Sighing, Miku started to explain as Bokuto dealt with Akaashi. Or rather, Akaashi dealt with Bokuto. “Kisa's this girl that Kou's got a really big crush on,” she explained, patting my head. “He's really nuts about her, so he named the owl after her.”

“That's really weird...”

“I think it's kind of sweet.” Eri's opinion seemed very different than that of the other two girls'. “I mean the owl is really smart and nice...”

“I think it's a little creepy,” Mayako stated. “If it's just a girl that he has a crush on and never talks to, then that's creepy.”

“Well I still think it's sweet.”

Mayako just rolled her eyes and adjusted her glasses. “You also think Konoha is hot...”

“Eri thinks almost all the third years in high school are hot,” Miku corrected her, teasing her friend.

Eri wasn't that amused, but she wasn't denying it either. Instead, she turned and directed some teasing towards Miku. “And you have a crush on Akaashi.”

And of all the times for Bokuto to rejoin us, this was the worst. “Miku likes Akaashi?” that familiar energetic voice asked, a wide grin spread across his face.

A look of horror appeared on his little sister's face. Her liking Akaashi wasn't exactly a big deal; she'll be a first year in high school as soon as he became a third. However, I had a feeling that, like any normal girl, she didn't want the boy finding out about her crush. “Don't you dare, Koutaro!”

Her words seemed to only have an effect on her two friends, who looked sorry to have brought it up. “I have to tell Akaashi!”

Seeing the distressed look on the young girl's face reminded me of how I'd feel if someone had threatened to tell Bokuto about my crush on him. And because I knew that, I couldn't let Bokuto do it. Of course, being owl once again limited me. Even if I tried to argue with him just like I had with Akaashi yesterday, there was no was no way he could possibly understand me.

Or maybe he didn't have to. All I had to do was try. Once more, I found myself yelling at someone. Bokuto couldn't understand a single word that I was trying to say, but he really didn't need to. The message I was trying to get across was pretty clear, even if all anyone heard was angry screeching and squawking.

Bokuto might have looked like he was about to self-destruct, but I had saved his little sister, so it was worth it. Besides, I could always find a way to cheer him up. After all, cheering people up was something that I was good at.

Making my way over to him, I found myself being placed up on the ace's shoulder. He still looked a little down, so in a quick attempt to bring his mood up a bit, I gently brushed the top of my head against his cheek. Hopefully he could understand me this time too.

_I still love you, Bokuto._


	6. Kuroo

The next few days passed the same as the first two. Bokuto dragged me along everywhere with him. During school hours I sat at the same tree and waited for Bokuto to come out at lunch time. I'd made no progress in learning to fly.

Today though, was going to be an interesting day. Not only was this the day of a practice match, it was a practice match with Nekoma. While I may not have known much about the school, I'd heard about it before from Akaashi. That was the school that Bokuto's friend Kuroo went to.

There was little I could do to help out at their practices, but I was there regardless. Though that tended to irritate the rest of the team, the managers and the coaches. But they didn't dare try to stop Bokuto from bringing me along. An owl is much easier to handle than a moody Bokuto.

Of course, I'm not so sure that everyone from Nekoma thought the same. In fact, the looks on most of their faces were quite interesting. The team members themselves looked interesting.

Some weren't very memorable, but most of them looked like they'd be interesting.

One of them was a guy with dyed blonde hair. He seemed a lot smaller than most of his team, so I guessed he was probably a first year. Maybe a second.

There was one who was really tall with silvery hair. That one was a bit hyperactive and sort of reminded me of Bokuto.

Then there was another short guy with dark hair that was neatly parted in the middle. He was probably one of those guys that played the same position as Komi. What was that called again? Liro? No... Ah, libero. But then again, there were two other guys right about the same height, so I couldn't be sure on that.

Coming in last was a fairly tall guy, maybe even taller than Bokuto. This guy either had the weirdest hairstyle I had ever seen or some really crazy bedhead.

I wondered which one was Bokuto's friend. I also wondered which one was the captain. But I figured that the mature looking fellow with the shaved head was probably the captain. He certainly seemed the most captain-like. Well, of the ones that actually looked like they could be third years anyway.

The Bedhead looked in my direction and looked more annoyed than surprised. Found him. Kuroo had heard about me before, so it made it obvious that if only one person wasn't surprised about seeing an owl sitting on the shoulder of Fukurodani's ace, then that person was definitely Kuroo.

As the practice match got started, I stayed over on the sidelines with our managers. Occasionally though, I'd take on the task of retrieving the balls that got away. My helpfulness was a bit of a shock to the ones who hadn't met me yet, but Nekoma's older coach seemed to find it amusing.

Kuroo though, seemed a bit irritated. But I guess I couldn't blame him. There had been several nights that he and Bokuto had had picture wars, all of which were Bokuto's wins. All his pictures had been of me, so I might have become a source of annoyance for Kuroo.

Eventually they took a short break. During that time, Bokuto was talking very excitedly to Kuroo about something, making the bedhead look more and more irritated by the second. But Bokuto was oblivious to his friend's quickly falling mood.

I turned my focus away from them. It was probably better if I didn't know what they were talking about. So instead I focused on retrieving the last of the stray volleyballs.

After some time, I sensed someone stopping near me as I was rolling the last ball. I stopped and shifted my eyes upwards to find out who. Seeing that it was Kuroo was a bit of a surprise. I was beginning to think he hated me, but maybe I was wrong.

He reached down and lifted me up. I didn't squirm or even move at all. In fact, I didn't even think it even the least bit suspicious that he suddenly wanted to see me. Bokuto wasn't even with him, so that made it even made it more strange. Yet I thought nothing of it and just let him do whatever it was he'd wanted to.

That was a bad move, because the next thing I knew, I was being shoved into someone's backpack.

 


	7. Missing

This stinks. And I mean that literally.

Whoever owned this backpack certainly deserved a lecture on how disgusting this was. Seriously, this was awful. It smelled like dirty, sweaty gym socks. That's gross. To make matters worse, I didn't have any room to move and I couldn't see a thing.

I tried to make some sort of noise to get someone's attention, but the practice match continued on and drowned out what little sound I could make. That Kuroo was definitely going to get a serious scolding when I got out of here. Well, that's if the dirty sock smell didn't kill me first.

It seemed like hours passed by and it didn't look like anyone had noticed that I was missing. Would Bokuto be sad that I was gone? Would he even notice? My question was quickly answered by his voice loudly asking where I was.

No one could tell him where I was. I heard a few people, along with Nekoma's coach asking everyone to help look around. And then, it was quiet. Had everyone left the gym? That wouldn't be good. I had to do something.

Unable to do much else, I squirmed around as much as I could. Maybe they hadn't been able to hear me, but a backpack moving around on its own would definitely draw some attention. And after some time, the zipper came open and the smell of clean air rushed in.

Finally being free, I looked up at my savior. The rescuer turned out to be two of the guys from Nekoma: the pudding-headed boy and one who hadn't said a single word the entire time he was here. If I remembered right, I thought someone had called the first one Kenma.

As I was lifted up by Kenma, I watched him turn towards an approaching figure. “Kuroo, why was there an owl in my backpack?”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.” Ah, so he's going to deny ever doing anything. I guess I couldn't blame him. Why would someone admit to doing something like this? “Better take it to Akaashi though or Bokuto might think you were owl-napping his best friend.”

Maybe I was just imagining it, but I thought I could detect just a hint of jealousy in his voice. Probably just my imagination though. Honestly, who gets jealous over an owl?

Kenma and the quiet boy returned me to Akaashi. They quickly explained how they'd found me stuck in Kenma's backpack and that when he'd asked Kuroo about it, something seemed off with him. Akaashi then briefly mentioned that Kuroo had seemed to be acting a little strangely all day, but even more so after that first break, which just so happened to be right after I'd been introduced to the smelly backpack.

And of course, Bokuto just so happened to hear every bit of this little conversation. No matter how stupid you might be, it's really hard not to realize how suspicious his best friend was beginning to look.

The ace looked a bit angry, which was an emotion I'd never seen on him. Sure, maybe he was frustrated once in awhile, but never full-on angry. It gave me chills and I couldn't help but shiver. I hated to think of how he'd react if he knew his best friend was responsible for such a terrible act.

Then as one of Nekoma's other players approached us, Bokuto ran off. If I had to guess, he was going to confront Kuroo. The two setters, Akaashi and Kenma, ran off after him. From what I'd seen , they were the closest ones to the two boys and therefore had the best chances at keeping them from getting into a fight.

I was passed off to the boy who'd just joined the now splitting group. He was left there, awkwardly holding onto me and standing with the quiet boy whose name I didn't know. Unsure what else to do, the one holding me placed me up on his shoulder as he'd seen Bokuto do.

Trying to be friendly, I brushed the top of my feathery head against his cheek as I'd often done to Bokuto. The boy let out what sounded like a giggle. “Hey that tickles!” Wait, so he's ticklish, maybe? I couldn't resist testing it. Using the feathers on my wing closest to his neck, I gently brushed against the side of his neck. “H-hey!” The boy started laughing. So I kept doing it. He kept laughing and soon the quiet boy was laughing at the sight.

“Looks like Shibayama made a friend!” said an energetic voice. It wasn't from the quiet boy or Shibayama, so I stopped my tickling to look at the source of the voice It was the silvery haired boy who reminded me of Bokuto. “Were you the one who found her?”

Shibayama shook his head. “Fukunaga and Kenma did.” The two then looked over at the quiet boy. So his name was Fukunaga? “By the way, where was she anyway? I mean, we looked all over and couldn't find her.”

“Kenma's backpack.” So the quiet boy could speak. He then turned and directed his next words to me. “How did you end up in there?”

“Why are you hooting at the owl?” the energetic one asked. I hadn't noticed, but maybe that was because I could understand it perfectly. It made me wonder if he could actually understand me or if it were simply a coincidence that he'd actually managed to say something in owl.

Like my tickle theory, I had to test it out. “Kuroo.” It was a single word, but if he could understand it, then maybe I could explain what happened with Kuroo.

Fukunaga did indeed understand and translated what had happened for Shibayama and the other boy who I learned was called Lev. Afterwards I was passed off to Fukunaga while they ran off to explain to Akaashi who would then figure out the safest way to tell it to Bokuto.

I didn't mind being left alone with Fukunaga. This was the first time in a week that I'd been able to have an actually conversation with someone. Sure, I could just write down everything I had to say, but writing when you don't have hands is a real hassle. And after a week of that, you can imagine how nice it was to have someone actually understand you when speak.

It was just simple smalltalk for the most part. I explained a little bit about how I wasn't always an owl and then a long explanation of how the past week with Bokuto had been. Of course, the conversation was cut short when we heard muffled shouting coming from outside. It sounded like Bokuto and Kuroo's voices, but I couldn't be sure. All I knew was that whatever was going on out there wasn't something nice... and chances were, it was all my fault.

 


	8. Bro Love

Tense. The whole room felt tense. Apparently Kuroo and Bokuto never fought, so now the entire gym was full of tension.

Bokuto refused to speak to Kuroo until he apologized. He insisted that he'd done nothing wrong, that Kuroo was the only one to blame.

Kuroo refused to apologize. He claimed that it was all Bokuto's fault, that he wouldn't shut up about “that stupid owl” so he was forced to do what he'd done.

In the end, I think that Bokuto had just gone a little overboard and was too stubborn to admit it. Kuroo too, had handled the situation badly. Instead of taking it out on me, he should have simply talked to Bokuto about it.

Bokuto sat on the bench, arms crossed and me on his shoulder. Kuroo was over by the corner, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall. No one dared to speak to either; probably out of fear that it might set them off.

Everyone did last practice set, but the two boys had sat out. It was about now that I learned that Kuroo was Nekoma's captain, which was a bit of a shock to me. Though then again, if someone like Bokuto could be a captain, so could Kuroo.

I didn't like seeing Bokuto like this. He'd just had a fight with his best friend and he looked really upset by it. But I doubted Bokuto would be the one to talk to him first.

Kuroo wasn't going to be the one to step forward either. While he'd been wrong to do what he did, he wasn't entirely in the wrong.

Neither of them looked like they were about to give in. So that left it up to everyone else to patch things up between the two. But no one seemed to have the heart to get involved. That left only one person. Or rather, one owl.

I gave Bokuto's shirt sleeve a tug, telling him that I wanted to be put on the ground. He gave me a sad look, but let me down anyway. His mood fell even further when he watched me walk over to Kuroo's corner. It killed me to see Bokuto hurting, but if no one else was going to do anything about this, then I had to.

Once I'd reached Kuroo, he gave me a quick glare and mumble to himself. “Stupid owl...” His words were angry and most likely directed at me, but I could tell he was hurting just like Bokuto was. I'd always hated to see anyone hurting, especially when they were close to someone I loved.

He turned his head away from me, but I could see him watching me out of the corner of his eye. The bedheaded captain probably didn't trust me. Then again, there was a chance that I was coming over here to get revenge for the little stunt he'd pulled.

Now, while I had briefly considered biting him, I knew that doing so would get us nowhere. In all honestly, seeing how bad he felt shattered all desire to get back at him. No, I had to fix this.

Slowly getting closer to him, I stopped next to his hand. I waited a moment, half expecting him to try an hit me. He didn't, so I brushed my head against the top of his hand, hoping that my message was clear. “I forgive you.”

My actions surprised Kuroo, as well as everyone else who had been watching. Hesitating for only a moment, the bedhead captain patted my head. “You're either stupid or too kindhearted,” he said just loud enough for me to hear. “You should stop; you're making me feel bad.” There was a slight laugh in his voice, but it was sort of sad. He didn't want to be fighting with Bokuto.

That was all I needed. I brushed against his hand once more before tugging at his shirt. “What?” He didn't seem to understand. I tugged at his shirt again. “I don't get what you want.” Mentally sighing, I walked a few steps away from him and then back before tugging at his shirt again. “Follow you?” he guessed.

I nodded. Slowly Kuroo stood up and followed me right to where Bokuto was sulking. When he realized that was where I was taking him, he looked a bit uneasy. I felt sorry for him, but this was what had to be done. I gave him a light push towards Bokuto before going around to give the owl-haired a harder push towards his best friend.

All eyes fell on the two, silently watching to see how this would end.

Neither boy spoke. Then at last, Kuroo spoke, saying words that no one expected. “I'm sorry I put your owl in Kenma's backpack,” he said, not looking at Bokuto. Of course, he wasn't looking at Kuroo either. “I... You kept going on and on about how wonderful he is and I got jealous. I felt like the owl had replaced me.”

Kuroo's little confession caught us all by surprise, especially me. I knew that he'd been irritated about Bokuto talking about me so much, but to hear that he was actually jealous of me... that was a shock. I certainly didn't think I was good enough to make anyone jealous.

Bokuto was silent a moment, a smile trying to fight its way onto his face. He threw an arm around Kuroo's shoulder. “I can't stay mad at you, you sexy bastard,” he said, partly jokingly. Soon, both of them were grinning and back to the best friends that they had always been.

However, if they were back to normal, that meant trouble for everyone else. “Bokuto, please control yourself,” Akaashi's voice said in his usual emotionless voice.

“You're just jealous of our bro love,” Kuroo said back, not giving Bokuto a chance to respond.

“I am not.”

“Are too.”

“No one is jealous of that messed up little bromance you two have,” Akaashi said, ending the conversation and earning a number of laughs from both teams, as well as the coaches and myself. “Furthermore, I would hope this event will not repeat itself during the summer training camp.”

The laughter stopped and Fukurodani's ace looked to Kuroo and then to Nekoma's coach. “Am I allowed to bring Kisa to that?” It was a good question. I was only allowed her because this was Bokuto's school and what they were talking about was a completely different school. If they wouldn't allow it, then he wouldn't fight it. Even Bokuto knows his limits.

“I'd actually prefer it,” the old coach grinned. “An owl who's smart enough to not only help out with practice, but can also correct a third year's homework and patch up a fight with nothing more than a little kindness? That's something I'd like to see again.” Bokuto grinned at the old man's words, but the next ones were the best yet. “Besides, she seems to have become a part of the team, hasn't she?”

Almost immediately, I saw an idea pop into the ace's head. He quickly turned to the vice captain with the biggest smile I'd ever seen. “Akaashi!”

“No, Bokuto.”

I didn't have any idea what Bokuto's grand idea was, but I had a feeling that whatever it was, that energetic ace was going to get it.


	9. Former Life

Whatever grand idea Bokuto had that only Akaashi seemed to know appeared to have been forgotten by the time the guys from Nekoma had to leave. In that short time though, I'd managed to make friends with most of the team, especially Kuroo the bedhead captain, Shibayama the ticklish boy and Fukunaga the one who speaks owl.

Of course, it hadn't really dawned on me to try and ask Fukunaga to tell everyone who I really was. In fact I didn't really say much about the fact that I'd once been human. I guess I had just gotten so used to being an owl and being with Bokuto that I kept forgetting my former life.

It wasn't until a week after the practice match with Nekoma that I found out what it was that Bokuto had been thinking that day. At least, I assumed it was the same thing. Though knowing him, it was very possible that he'd forgotten the thing from before and this was something entirely new.

Just as practice was about to begin and I was passed off to one of the managers, Akaashi called Bokuto over to him. Something was passed from one to the other, though from where I stood, I couldn't see. But whatever it was, it had Bokuto jumping and cheering.

And the next thing I knew, I was being scooped up by my beloved Bokuto. My body and limbs were turned this way and that. If I dared to resist whatever the ace was trying to do, I might have gotten hurt. So I simply let him move me however he needed.

Once he was done, he held me up and grinned. “Perfect!” Bokuto turned to the team's vice captain. “Right Akaashi?” The setter just sighed and shook his head at Bokuto's antics.

However, I had yet to really figured what he's just done to me. My body felt strange. Kinda like that feeling you get when you first put on a pair of pants over top of another pair of pants. I looked down at myself and I saw it.

Bokuto had gone through the trouble of convincing Akaashi to somehow get this for me. It was a little sleeveless version of their volleyball uniforms. I even had a number. Zero. Sure, it might have been a lame number, but it made me feel like I really was part of the team. If it were physically possible, I probably would have cried a little.

Even happier than I was, was Bokuto. In fact, he was still excited and showing it off that it lasted until long after practice. He even sent probably thirty pictures of it to Kuroo, who, after the incident with Kenma's backpack, had gotten a lot more tolerate of these sorts of conversation with Bokuto.

Then, out of nowhere, the bedhead captain asks a question. It was a strange question because it had no relation to what we'd been talking about. In fact, the subject had nothing to do with Kuroo either.

_What was the name of that girl again? The one you're so in love with?_

Bokuto looked at me with a confused expression. “Why's he asking? I've said her name a thousand times,” he said before typing out my first name and sending it.

_I meant her last name._

Why did he want to know my last name? There was no way he could have known me as a human.

_Murakami. But why do you want to know?_

When Kuroo's answer came, he completely ignored the question. _Is she a cute little second year? Light hair that's kinda wavy?_

Now this was starting to look suspicious. How did Kuroo know that? He was describing me when I was still human. It was starting to irritate Bokuto. _Alright, what's going on? How do you know what Kisa looks like when you've never met her?_

Kuroo's answer was as mysterious as the rest had been, but this time he at least told us where we could find our answer. _If you don't know already, then you better go look in today's newspaper._

Any further attempts to get anything more out of him were wasted time. Kuroo didn't respond, so Bokuto asked Akaashi, explaining everything that the bedhead captain had said. But Akaashi 's response was just as confusing.

_Don't look at today's newspaper._

If Akaashi was telling Bokuto not to do something, chances were that it was for a good reason. Bokuto knew that all too well after all the trouble he'd gotten into and all the times the vice captain had said “I told you so.” But now with Kuroo's words convincing him to do the opposite, the poor third year was beyond confused.

In the end, he gave in to his curiosity and looked for whatever it was that Kuroo wanted him to see. And when he saw it, the happiness from earlier looked like it had been drained from him. I wasn't even sure I could help this time either.


	10. Aching Heart

Bokuto didn't sleep very well that night. He kept tossing and turning, his body tired but his mind staying wide awake. Even worse, there was nothing I could do besides stay at his side. I'd be little more than something to hug tightly until the pain faded.

The next day he couldn't focus in school thanks to the lack of sleep. He couldn't even fall asleep in class because there was too much on his mind. And when he came to sit with me during lunch time, he didn't even try to eat his lunch, resulting in me having to force him to. Then when practice came around, things weren't any better.

The energetic ace of Fukurodani was in no condition to do anything at all. He hadn't even been able to change for practice. So the others carried on without their captain, leaving him sitting on the bench and staring down at his hands.

While everyone else was busy with practice, I stayed at Bokuto's side. There was little I could do but watch over him like the managers had asked me. After a little while, he pulling some paper out of his pocket. When I saw it, my heart began aching even more.

Last night we'd found an article in the newspaper about a girl who had gone missing. It didn't say what school she went to, saying only that she was a second year in high school. Unless you knew her name or recognized the photograph, you wouldn't have had any idea who she was.

After I'd finally gotten used to my owl body, it was easy to forget that I was once human. Even now, it was hard to think that the girl in the article was me.

As soon as Bokuto had seen my picture and read what had been said, he'd immediately called Akaashi. The setter had then admitted that he'd known about it long before the article.

Being in the same class and a friend of mine, he'd noticed my absence immediately. The first few days he didn't think much of it, simply assuming that I was just sick. But after a week had passed since the last time he'd heard from me, he'd grown concerned and spoke to my parents.

My parents and I didn't usually see much of each other normally. I left for school before they even woke up in the morning and was almost always in bed asleep when they came home late at night. So during that first week, they hadn't noticed that I was gone. But after Akaashi had mentioned my absence from school, they began realize that the chores that were usually left to me remained undone and that something was clearly wrong.

They'd asked him to keep quiet about it until they were sure that I was actually missing. Then a couple days later, it finally started to be investigated. However, all attempts at searching for an answer turned up nothing. As far as they could tell, I'd vanished without even the tiniest hints as to why or where.

None of the other members of the team had really known me other than what Bokuto had told them of me. So when I disappeared, none of them could have noticed. Maybe a couple seconds might have noticed my absence, but they never thought to question it. For all they knew, I was just out sick or I transferred without telling anyone.

Had it not been for Kuroo though, Bokuto might not have found out. Akaashi had purposely not told him so that this situation could be avoided. As bad as it might have sounded, Akaashi had the right idea. I'd rather Bokuto have never known than to have him hurting the way he was now.

The worst part of it was, it was entirely my fault. If it weren't for me then he wouldn't been breaking down right now. He wouldn't have his heart breaking and I wouldn't have to watch him suffer.

I wanted so desperately to tell him that he didn't need to be hurting. _I'm right here! Please don't be sad anymore!_ But no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't. And even if I could tell him that, there was a chance that I might never be human again. It was enough that if owls could cry, I definitely would be.

In the end, that day was as rough and painful for me as it was for Bokuto. And the next day probably wasn't going to be much better.

 

Bokuto was still sulking by the time the next day's practice came around. Nothing had done anything to improve his mood, not even having his favorite food for dinner. In fact, he'd barely even touched his food that night.

At least he'd managed to change his clothes for practice today. Though he still sat on the bench, staring down at the floor. It was painful to watch, so I knew I had to do something... anything to get his mind off of this.

From my spot on the bench next to the depressed ace, I spotted a stray volleyball. In my head a plan began forming. I jumped down and hurried over to the ball's location and began to roll it back. Stopping just a little ways away from Bokuto, I used my foot to hit it towards him.

The ball hit his foot and stopped there. Slowly he looked over to me and his eyes locked with mine. It made me wonder if he could see the pain I was feeling for him. He looked up, his eyes falling on his teammates who were watching him, waiting to see if he would join them.

Bokuto looked down at me one last time before a tiny smile started tugging at the corners of his mouth. He scooped me up and wrapped me into a very tight hug before kissing the top of my head. “Thanks Kisa,” he whispered, before setting me on the bench and running off to join his teammates.

If owls could blush, I'd be redder than Nekoma's uniforms right now. Why did he have to do that? Just when I was finally used to being around him, he has to go and do something like that to make me all flustered.

Even if there were no romantic intentions behind the action, it was from the guy I'd fallen for the moment I'd met him. And when you're an owl who probably might never be human again, that's incredibly confusing... and a bit painful.

_Bokuto you idiot! Why did you have to do that? I'm supposed to want you to get over me, not fall for you more. Why do I have to be in love with you?_

 


	11. High School Boys Are Weird

The days after that seemed to pass by slowly. Bokuto was still hurting, but at least you couldn't see it unless you were really close to him. As a way of helping him to get over it, the entire team decided that they'd never mention the human that I used to be. The idea of it was a bit depressing for me, but I knew it was probably for the best.

Soon enough, it came time for the summer training camp. This time, we'd be going to Nekoma. Of course, we wouldn't be the only ones there. If my memory was correct, three other schools would be there. Shinzen, Ubugawa, and lastly the fated rivals of Nekoma, Karasuno.

When we finally arrived, I felt a bit relieved. Bokuto had woken up in a really good mood and on the bus ride, he'd explained why. It was actually thanks to a “super amazing dream” that he'd had which apparently had been about him and me when I was still human. Now I really wouldn't have minded that if it had merely been some innocent cuddle dream, but that's not how it was.

And the entire bus ride, he went and told Akaashi all about it. But that's the worst part. No, he decided that he was gong to tell the whole story and not leave out anything at all. Every single tiny little intimate detail was so carefully explained that even the person with the least amount of imagination could have easily imagined it. In fact Akaashi had to stop Bokuto by telling him that if ever mentioned a dream like to anyone ever again, he would never toss to him ever again.

 

Seeing two of the other teams made me feel a bit nervous. A lot of these guys were pretty big and that made them seem a bit intimidating, but with Bokuto right by my side, I knew there was nothing to worry about. In the end, everyone turned out to be pretty cool. Of course, I had yet to meet Nekoma's rival, who I'd heard a little bit about thanks to Kuroo and Bokuto's texts.

Karasuno arrived a bit later than the others, but it was nice having everyone finally here. Or almost everyone. Apparently two of Karasuno's members would be arriving later due to some exams that had to be made up. Luckily though the missing duo showed up in time to play one match.

After the matches and practicing was over, a number of people kept practicing on their own. Bokuto, unsurprisingly, was one of them. And if Bokuto was practicing his spiking, you know who else got dragged into it with him: Akaashi and whoever he could drag into blocking for him. From what I knew, that usually ended up being Kuroo since the Fukurodani boys always escaped as fast as they could.

So as Bokuto kept practicing, I wandered about on my own. Though after the incident with Kuroo, I was a bit more cautious about other people. Didn't need to be stuffed into another smelly backpack again. Once in a lifetime is already too many times.

Along the way, I came across many interesting people. One of those being an energetic duo. One was probably the shortest here, if you excluded myself and the managers, and had a tiny tuft of blonde hair amongst some brown spiked up hair. The other was probably about average height compare to everyone else and had a shaved head.

While I was rolling a stray ball along, the two had stopped in front of me, preventing it from going any further. I looked up and founded myself quickly being scooped up by the shorter one. “Look Ryu! It's got a little jersey on!” he said with wide grin.

The other, who I assumed was named Ryu based on what his friend had called him, mirrored his facial expression. “Number Zero! That's so cool!” As a thought crossed his mind, the smile was replaced with a look of confusion. “Can an owl really play volleyball though?”

A laugh sounded not far from the duo. As one of Nekoma's players made his way over here, I quickly recognized him. “She's not actually one of the players,” Yamamoto said, patting my head and taking me from the short one's hands and letting me sit on his shoulder. “But she's pretty much part of the team, ain't that right Kisa?”

I nodded, surprising the other two. “It actually understands! That's awesome!”

Yamamoto laughed again. “That's nothing! She actually had a conversation with Fukunaga once. Couldn't understand a word they were saying and he wouldn't tell us, but it was funny to watch.” Ryu reached over and pet the top of my head. “Oh yeah! Watch this!” Yamamoto held up his hand. This was actually something he'd seen Bokuto and Kuroo 'teach' me, though this was the first he'd actually tried. “High five?” I took my foot and pressed it flat against his palm, careful not to scratch him with my claws.

That impressed the Karasuno duo making them go on about how cool that was, but Yamamoto wasn't done yet. “Fist?” He shifted his hand into a fist and held it up to me. I responded with the appropriate action, prompting more excitement from the pair.

Eventually I was returned to Bokuto and stayed on his shoulder all through dinner. Everyone's reactions to that were even more amusing than his mother's. As my energetic ace shared his food with me, there were more than a few stares. “Bokuto's actually sharing his food? That's a first.” and “He's crazy.” were easily heard from a good majority of the people who knew him and his love of food.

Kuroo though, had an even more interesting thing to say. “You know, I'm pretty sure that counts as indirect kissing,” he teased and I was thankful that I didn't happen to be eating something right at that second. “You are using the same utensil and I'm pretty sure I just saw you eat half of that last piece before you gave it to her.”

Bokuto didn't seem to mind his friend's words. I, on the other hand, hadn't even thought about it like that until he'd mentioned it. Now that he had, I felt like I was blushing, though I was pretty sure that that was physically impossible. “So? We do this all the time. She can't fly or anything, so it's not like she can go catch something like normal owls.” Not to mention that I had no idea how to do anything like that in the first place.

The way Bokuto explained it though, made it seem a lot less embarrassing than the way Kuroo had said it. It's simply a survival tactic, not... not what Kuroo says. He's just trying to provoke Bokuto, that's all.

“She's practically his girlfriend anyway, so what would it matter?” That time I did choke on my food a little. That... no... just no... Akaashi should not have said something like that.

My reaction prompted a worried look from the ace and many snickers from those surrounding us. “I don't think she likes the sound of that one,” Kuroo barely managed say through his laughter. From that point on, I think everyone spent more time laughing and joking around than actually eating.

That night, dinner ended for the two of us when someone's food spilled all over us. After finding out it was Karasuno's little blonde manager and that someone had bumped into her, I immediately forgave her. The poor girl seemed like she was a bit intimidated by most of the people here, which was made even more noticeable to me as she frantically tried cleaning everything off of Bokuto and repeatedly apologizing.

Fukurodani's ace didn't seem to mind it at all and simply picked a few bits of food off of his shoulder and ate them. If I could have scolded him for doing that, I would have, but instead I settled for letting Akaashi do it instead. “Bokuto, don't do that. It's disgusting.”

“Food is food and food is good,” Bokuto said, ignoring the words and eating another piece of food, this time taking a piece that had stuck to my wing. He reached for another but froze as he saw the look that his vice-captain was giving him. If I had to guess, Akaashi was mentally threatening him with the same thing as he had on the bus and it was definitely working. “We'll just go and clean up...”


	12. Awkward

Awkward. This is so awkward.

When Bokuto had said that we were going clean ourselves up, this is not what I'd expected at all. I thought that he'd simply put my in the sink and washed everything off and then he'd go take a shower. But no, that was not what he had in mind at all.

The warm water felt nice coming down on me, but I didn't really have time to enjoy it. I was too busy trying not to look at Bokuto. Yes, that adorable idiot decided to just take an owl into the shower with him instead of doing what most people would have assumed he'd do.

While he often walked around in nothing but his underwear at home, (much to his sister's annoyance,) I'd never seen him without clothes on. Even if I'd grown used to seeing him in nothing but his underwear, I had no intentions of seeing him naked any time soon. Thus the reason I was trying desperately to not look at him.

After he'd gotten all of it out of his hair, it was then my turn. The ace lifted me up and I tried to avoid looking down. That was the last thing I needed to see right now. He held me in one arm while the other hand tried to wash everything off. Luckily I was small and most of it had landed on Bokuto, so it didn't take very long.

Once it was all done, Bokuto set me down on the floor and I quickly turn to face away from him while he dried off. After a moment, he dropped the towel down on me. I felt it move all around me, drying as much of the water as possible.

When he was done, he removed the towel from me. And when I looked up, guess what I saw? Yep, the exact thing I'd been trying not to see: a naked Bokuto. He was crouched down next to me, grinning like there was absolutely nothing wrong with this scenario at all. Of course, he had no idea who I really was. I was just his pet owl, so there was nothing wrong in his eyes.

I quickly turned my gaze down towards the floor and closed my eyes. Hopefully Bokuto would just think I was tired; not flustered about seeing more of him than I should have.

When we were finally back with the others, I decided to stay away from him for awhile. Spotting Fukunaga, I decided to hang out with him. At least he was safe to be around.

Slowly making my way over, I weakly rested my forehead against his leg. He could tell how I was feeling, so he asked what happened, in owl of course. The answer was two simple words: “Naked Bokuto.”

Fukunaga laughed and patted my head comfortingly. Was has been seen can never be unseen, but with the help of a friend, you can forget. So for the rest of the night, I stuck with the quiet spiker from Nekoma, sharing a conversation that no one else had any hope of understanding.

It wasn't until it was time for bed that I finally returned to Bokuto. Even if I felt awkward about what I'd seen, I still loved him. And no matter what, I wanted to stay by his side as long as I could, even if that meant that I had to stay an owl to do it.

 


	13. Don't Touch Her

The rest of the week-long training camp passed by without much incident. No one else spilled food on Bokuto and me, so I was saved from having to take another shower with him and from having to deal with the awkwardness of seeing him naked again.

Tonight was our last night here and the practice matches had already ended. As I went along doing my job of gathering stray volleyballs, I noticed two of Karasuno's players talking. One leaned down and picked something up. A piece of paper? Looked almost like a piece of a newspaper.

Wait... newspaper? Rolling the ball with me, I made my way over to see if my suspicions about the paper were right. The taller one with glasses was the one holding it. What was him name again? Tsuki-something... Tsukishima!

“She's pretty cute,” the other one said, looking at the paper in Tsukishima's hand. Must have had a picture. That was confirming what I thought.

“She's missing.” Yep. I had a feeling I knew exactly what that was. But what was it doing here?

Having heard only “she's cute,” a couple others came over to see what was going on. Surprisingly, they all pretty much agreed that the girl in the picture was cute, though they didn't seem to understand why someone would be carrying around an article about a girl who was currently missing.

“She's probably related to someone here,” Tsukishima's friend said. But most of the others shook their heads.

“I'll bet she's someone's girlfriend!” an energetic orange haired boy suggested. Hinata was the boy's name; he'd become quite a star the last few days with that freaky quick he did with Karasuno's dark haired setter.

Nishinoya nodded in agreement with Hinata. “A girl that cute would definitely have a boyfriend and there are many cool guys here.”

Beside him were the dark haired setter and the third year setter. Kageyama and Sugawara, I thought their names were. Kageyama didn't seem all that interested, but stuck around anyway.

“It doesn't matter why it's here,” the silver haired setter said. “You should give it back to whoever it belongs to.”

Giving it back would only be possible if they could figure out who it belonged to though. Honestly though, it probably would have been best to just get rid of it, for Bokuto's sake. If I was going to be stuck as an owl for the rest of my life, then it was best for him to forget about the human me.

“I'd rather just toss it,” Tsukishima said, glaring at the piece of paper. “She's probably a terrible person anyw-” As kind of a person as I was, it made me angry to hear him say something like that about me. So I headbutted his leg, though it wasn't hard.

The boys all looked down at me. Nishinoya was the first to speak, saying something that I couldn't quite catch other than the mention of my name. It was then that the group made a bit of a connection between the owl at their feet and the girl in the article. Or that was what I'd assumed. They at least figure out that we shared the same name.

“I think it's more than just a coincidence that they share the same name,” Sugawara said. He was much more right than he realized. “If I had to guess, the one who brought the owl probably knows the girl.”

“That's a pretty lucky guess from someone who doesn't know Bokuto,” a now very familiar voice said before I felt myself being picked up. Kuroo held me in one arm and pointed at the paper in Tsukishima's hand. “That girl was a friend of Akaashi's, Fukurodani's setter. From what I heard she was incredibly sweet, but avoided Bokuto, so he'd never had a chance to even talk to the girl. But he fell for her anyway. Even named his owl after her because he claims that she's just like the girl he'd been crazy about.”

The way Kuroo explained it made it sound bad, but honestly I didn’t think the whole story was that bad. Bokuto had a crush, found an owl that acted like her, named the owl after his crush. Nothing wrong with that, right? Apparently not everyone thought so. “So basically he's obsessed with a girl he barely knows.”

“Don't say such rude things, Tsukishima,” the older setter scolded him. “I'm sure he knows a lot about her. And I'll bet she's a very nice girl.” Sugawara then took the little article from the tall blonde.

Of course, that just so happened to be the moment when a certain someone realized that someone had found a certain something that he'd been told by Akaashi to get rid of. Almost as fast as he could have teleported, Bokuto was right there. He quickly ripped the small scrap of paper out of the innocent setter's hands. “Don't touch her!”

Sensing that now would be a good time for it, Kuroo set me on Bokuto's shoulder. It was a good thing too because he looked like he might get into one of his moods again. Unable to do much else to alter his mood, I did the one thing I knew that had the most effect on him. I brushed the top of my head against his cheek, hoping that maybe it would be just enough.

And just like every time before, I managed to lighten his mood just as much as I needed to. Though I couldn't help but fear that one day, I might not be able to do enough for him.

 


	14. Kisa's Love

The training camp came to an end and things went back to normal for Bokuto and I. Well, if you could call what we had normal. One night though, I had a dream.

In that dream, I had my human body back. Bokuto's arms were wrapped around me and I felt safe. But from the very beginning, I knew it was only a dream. I couldn't talk to him as perfectly as I had then and had it been real, I'd have been too flustered. I knew myself too well to let myself believe that such a beautiful dream could ever have even the slightest hope of becoming reality.

Sometime later that day, I saw a girl talking to Bokuto. She was a third year like him, but that was about all I knew. They were too far from me for me to hear, but maybe it was better that I didn't. Just seeing him with another girl felt like a dull stick being stabbed into my heart. It's selfish, I know, but I'd always wanted to talk to him like she was now.

That might have been the first time in my life that I had ever felt jealous. The way the two were talking and smiling like they were having a great time... I wished I could do that that easy. But no, I'd always run away from him and now that I was finally close to him, I still couldn't talk to him.

As I waited for him, I thought back to when I was human. I could remember the first time I'd met Bokuto. As I'd turned a corner in the hall, he'd been running in the direction I'd been coming from. Neither of us had seen the other until we'd collided. Luckily he'd caught me before I could fall.

When I looked up, I was met with a handsome face. At the mere sight of him, my heart had fluttered in a way it never had before. It caught me so off guard that when he'd asked if I was alright, I could barely stutter out an answer before I ran away from him. I was probably blushing like crazy too.

It wasn't that moment that made me fall for him though. If anything, it's what made me notice him. Over time, I began to see him and his unique personality. The way he was always so passionate about the things he liked; the way he always seemed so happy; but most of all, I think I noticed the way he could just be himself no matter who he was with. I admired that about him.

With the help I got from my friend Akaashi, I learned all sorts of things about Bokuto. Though with as many questions as I'd asked him, Akaashi had quickly picked up on my developing feelings and asked if I was going to tell him how I felt. Of course, I was still unable to get anywhere near him without my heart going crazy on me. And so my first year of high school ended and Bokuto never learned a thing about my feelings.

Second year I thought that maybe things would have been different, but nothing had changed. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't get any closer to him. Eventually it started to get to me, making me feeling a bit depressed about it from time to time. And then one night, a careless wish was made and the next thing I knew, I was an owl and relying on my crush for survival. Thinking about it now, it all sounds like something out of a shoujo manga.

Finally the girl who'd been talking to Bokuto had left and he returned to me with a smile on his face. I wanted to ask what had happened with the girl, but when you can't speak, that's not easy. It was probably better I didn't know anyway.

If that girl had confessed her love for him and he'd returned her feelings, I'm not sure I could have handled that. And I know it's horrible and selfish of me, but there's a part of my heart that wants him to be only mine; even though deep down I know, he'd be better off forgetting he ever knew me and moving on. Of course, that didn't mean that it didn't break my heart.


	15. Forget Her

The next day during practice, I found out what that girl had been talking to Bokuto about. To put it simply, I'd rather have not known. As the team took a break, Akaashi and Konoha gave the ace a strange look. Konoha was the first to speak. “I heard you rejected Nakashima.”

My body suddenly felt cold. So that girl had told him that she had feelings for him after all. The only response Bokuto gave was a nod. “Didn't you go out on a date with her awhile back?” Akaashi asked. “That was... a few months ago? I thought you said she was fun.”

This wasn't a conversation that I wanted to hear, but since I was being kept here by Bokuto, I had no choice but to listen. “I also heard that you told her you had a girlfriend.” Konoha seemed like he was glaring at him. “We all know you don't.”

“I do too.” All eyes turned to Bokuto, including my own. This was the first time I was hearing this. It was very clear that no one believed him. In fact, I wasn't even sure I believed him. “You even said it before, Akaashi.”

We all looked to Akaashi. But the look of confusion on his face proved that he had no idea what the ace was talking about. “What are you even talking about? I have said no such thing,” he sighed.

Bokuto frowned and just held me up. “I mean Kisa, of course!” Wait... what?! Since when was I ever his girlfriend? And when did... oh... “You said it on the first day of the training camp, remember?”

“Bokuto...” Akaashi stared at the ace. Apparently he hadn't realized that the setter had said it more as sarcasm than anything. “You can't date an owl. You are not the same species and it's disgusting.”

“As long as I have my little Kisa, then-”

The setter cut him off almost immediately. “Just because they have the same name does not mean they are the same.” Akaashi's voice was fierce and firm, giving everyone the feeling that they better stay out of it. “Kisa's been missing for over a month. She's not just going to pop back out of nowhere and suddenly everything is back to normal. If anyone even does find out what happened to her, chances are she'll be dead or she'll be a completely different person.”

His words were harsh, but if anyone had the right to say such a thing, it was Akaashi. He was the one closest to me, so only he could say such things, regardless of how true and painful it might actually be. “Kisa is gone, so just give up on it already. She'd tell you the exact same thing if she were here.”

Akaashi was right; we all knew it. Even Bokuto knew, but he didn't appear to be that affected. In fact, I think he seemed more annoyed by his friend's words than anything. “I'm not giving up on her.” Bokuto gave everyone one last look before leaving, taking me along with him.

“Blind faith gets you nowhere, Bokuto.”

That was the first time he'd ever left practice early. Of course, he didn't stay away; he loved volleyball far too much to do a thing like that. But even after he'd calmed down and returned, he didn't say a word to Akaashi.


	16. Decisions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I laughed a little too much on this one...

On our way home, Bokuto was unusually quiet. I knew that what Akaashi had said was still running through his mind. As much as I would have loved to tell him that the setter's words didn't matter, I couldn't... because I agreed with Akaashi.

What he'd said was perfectly true if you thought about it logically. Of course, it made me start to wonder how things would be if I were ever to become human again. Would anything change between Bokuto and I? Would I even be able to talk to him? Or what if he'd moved on by then? No matter what, it was a depressing subject.

Bokuto walked along until something landed on his other shoulder. The ace stopped and stared at the feathery creature that was now there. Another owl. It was noticeably bigger than me and it's feathers were a tan color, different than my snowy gray ones.

Fukurodani's ace reached up to pet the new one, but it wasn't interested in Bokuto. The other owl looked around his head and stared at me. Uncomfortable with the way it was looking at me, I moved over so that the other couldn't see me from where it was now. That didn't stop it though.

The owl climbed around Bokuto's neck to his other shoulder. Now the two of us were on the same shoulder, which was a bit of a tight fit. I tried to move farther over, but I started to fall off the side. Had the other one not grabbed my foot with its own and pulled me back up, I'd have fallen down to the sidewalk.

After I was safely back up, the other owl put its wing over me. It was almost like how a guy would put his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders... Oh no... Am I seriously being hit on by an owl? I get that I'm an owl too, but this is still wrong... really really wrong. Why isn't Bokuto doing something about this? Didn't he just-

 _Click._ He just took a picture of it, didn't he?

Bokuto had his phone in his hands with the camera facing me. “You made a friend,” he said cheerfully, the conversation with Akaashi seemingly forgotten. He snapped a few more pictures while laughing before petting the tan owl on the head.

“Genma!” a boy's voice called out, making all three of us turn our heads towards the sound. A guy about our age came running up. He stopped in front of us and looked over at the tan owl. “Sorry about him. He normally doesn't leave my side unless we're at home or at my grandparents' farm.”

Bokuto just grinned. “He seems to really like Kisa.” Yeah well Kisa didn't really like him. In fact, Kisa was already in love with another owl; an owl by the name of Koutaro Bokuto.

“So you have an owl too?” the strange boy asked, staring at me carefully. “She's very beautiful. Genma really likes her.” The boy reached up and patted my head and then Genma's. “I'm Haruo, by the way.”

“Bokuto.” The ace held out his hand to Haruo, who shook it. “Where did you get him?” Bokuto point at Genma, who was still insisting on cuddling with me, much to my distress.

Haruo smiled. “I rescued him from a cat when he was just a little guy. That was a couple years ago. This is the first time I've ever seen him act friendly to any other birds though. Anyone other than me, actually.”

“Seems pretty friendly to me.” Genma cuddled a little closer to me and I briefly thought about pushing him off of Bokuto's shoulder. Though he was bigger and probably a lot stronger, not to mention Bokuto could get hurt of I tried it.

“You wouldn't happen to be interested in breeding her, would you?”

I nearly fell off of Bokuto's shoulder at the mere mention of the idea. Had Genma not caught me again, I probably would have. No. No way. Not going to happen. “Make little baby owls? That would be awesome!” Damn it Bokuto! No! Where's Akaashi when I need him?

Haruo's face lit up. “Yes!” he cheered along with Bokuto.

Then as a thought crossed his mind, he looked over to me. “You should probably ask Kisa if that's okay though...” Oh so now he pays attention to me... Where were you when I was trying to escape Genma?

“Would she actually understand what I was saying?” And this guy thinks I'm stupid... can this possibly get worse?

Bokuto grinned. “Of course! She understands everything! She even corrected my homework a few times.” The way he said that just made him look like he was really stupid. Well, he might be a bit of an idiot, but he wasn't that stupid; I was just really smart. “Go ahead and ask her!”

Haruo looked from me to Bokuto and then back to me. I could almost hear him arguing in his head about whether I was smart or if Bokuto was just that stupid. Whatever he decided, he asked anyway. “Kisa, would you like to... what should I call it... mate with Genma?”

Almost immediately, I shook my head no. No way was I going to do such a thing. I was not going to let my first time be with an owl, even if I was an owl. Maybe it would be different if I knew I was stuck this way forever, but I was hoping to be human again some day.

Wait a second... human again? Yeah, I do miss being human. I want to be human again. But I don't want to give up what I have with Bokuto. Why does this all have to be so complicated?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it bad that I kinda like the idea of Kisa X Genma? He's all just "let me love you" and she's just "Bokuto, stop laughing and save me!"


	17. Conflict

Bokuto and the boy were disappointed by my answer, but they didn't seem that hurt. Haruo and the ace swapped numbers, the former telling him to call him if we ever changed our minds. For me, that was probably never going to happen. Of course, if I was going to be stuck as an owl for the rest of my life, Genma might not be so bad...

I mean, I really hoped that it was possible to be human again, but there was no way of knowing unless it actually happened. It was actually very possible that I would be permanently stuck like this. Mentally I sighed, this was a real mess.

As I waited for Bokuto to finish up with his shower, I thought about today's events. Akaashi had really snapped this time; it was rare for him to actually show any emotion besides annoyance, even when it came to Bokuto. It was understandable; after all, he had to have been hurting too.

Sitting on the ace's bed, I stared out the bedroom window. I knew that I should want Bokuto to forget about the human me, but my own emotions were at war with each other. One said 'forget.' Another said 'never.' And then there was a third that just said 'whatever will make him happy.'

His phone that lay beside me lit up with a text. _I apologize for snapping at you. My words may have been harsher than necessary._ That would be Akaashi. Even if he acted cold sometimes, the setter still had feelings; no matter how much he might try to deny it. Seconds later, there was a second message. _Don't stay up too late. We have a practice match with that school from Miyagi tomorrow._

I'd almost forgotten about that. I couldn't quite remember the name of it, but I knew it was one of the top schools in their prefecture. So basically that would put them close to the same level of skill as Fukurodani. Although knowing that the other side had a pretty famous player on their side worried me. The guy was a setter if I remembered correctly.

Regardless of how good that guy might be though, I had faith in Bokuto and the others. They could win, that I was sure of.

 

Finally it came time for the match. As the team changed into their jerseys, Bokuto helped me to put my own on. From there, all we had to do was wait for the team from Aoba Johsai to make their entrance.

While the match went on, I stayed on the sidelines with the managers. During matches there was little I could do to help. Even though I could write, it was nowhere near fast enough to allow me to write any useful notes.

If Bokuto fell into one of his moods, I wouldn't be able to do anything. During a normal practice, I could swoop in and cheer him up. But during an actual match with another team, that wasn't something I could interfere with. Luckily though, Bokuto was holding up really well.

The entire match, the two teams were close. Before I knew it, two whole sets had gone by; each side had one win. As the third began, I began to see our ace's mood beginning to slip. Unfortunately, the other team seemed to notice it right away, quickly targeting him with their serves and spikes.

Soon enough, the self-destruction happened leaving behind a broken Bokuto. With the match so close to the end, it couldn't be timed worse. All timeouts had been used up, meaning he was completely on his own.

It tore at my heart. Watching him be targeted constantly, even with his teammates trying to cover him, it was almost more than I could take. These guys were pretty vicious players, especially the setter. To have to sit back and watch as they picked on my beloved ace was too much.

I wanted to do something, anything to help him. Unable to contain it, I shouted out to him. “Come on Bokuto! You can do it!” Even though I knew he couldn't understand a word that I was saying, the meaning was obvious: I was trying to cheer him on.

Beside me, the two managers picked up on what I was trying to do. They understood: we were going to lose if Bokuto didn't make his comeback soon. Following my example, they cheered the team on. “Get 'em Bokuto! Show 'em who's boss!” Hopefully, it would be enough to snap him out of his mood, because without our ace, we wouldn't be winning this match.


	18. Owls

I rolled the volleyball across the gym floor. The match was over now, the winner: Fukurodani. With our cheers, the two managers and I had successfully pulled Bokuto's mood back to normal. However, that didn't mean the rest of the match had been easy. In fact, we'd just barely managed to win.

Now we were working on cleaning up. Several players though, on both sides, just stood around and talked with each other. Everyone appeared to be getting along, so I didn't worry about keeping an eye on Bokuto. It was better if he could function without me around, whether I liked the idea or not.

As I rolled the ball along, it was suddenly rolled away from me. Glaring at the ball thief, I noticed they were a familiar feathery face. Genma rolled the ball around a bit before stopping and looking at me. If he was trying to impress me, it wasn't working.

Wanting to finish my task, I took the ball back and continued on my way. Genma did it a second time. So I took it back again. Then my ball was stolen a third time.

I heard laughter a little ways away and a voice. “Look Iwa-chan! He's just like you: he can't get a girlfriend either!” There was a loud smack, followed by the same voice whining and saying how mean the Iwa-chan person was. If I had to guess, the one had been talking about me and Genma.

Taking my ball back once more, I finally managed to get it to where it needed to be. However, that didn't stop Genma. The other owl followed me around, no matter where I walked to. Eventually, I gave up trying to run from him; it wasn't really working anyway. When I stopped running, he put his wing over me just like before.

I felt like everyone was staring at me. The familiar clicking sound of a camera wasn't exactly helping with that either. There were voices talking and laughing and I felt like it was because of Genma. Seriously, where's Akaashi when you need him?

Genma leaned over and started doing something to my feathers with his beak. I wasn't sure what it was, but if I had to guess, it was probably some sign of affection. Had I been born an owl, I might have actually understood what he was doing.

What the tan owl did next though, I did understand. I recognized it because it's what I did to Bokuto when I wanted to cheer him up or show that I cared. He rubbed his cheek against mine and leaned against me. Yeah, that one was definitely a sign of affection; which I didn't want from Genma.

Spotting Akaashi nearby, I quickly made my way over to the setter. Unfortunately, Genma followed right behind. Luckily though, Akaashi was smart enough to rescue me by picking me up and placing me on his shoulder. Of course, that wasn't going to stop Genma...

Now where have I seen this before? Oh yeah, this happened yesterday. Once more, I was stuck with a cuddly Genma. He'd made his way onto Akaashi's shoulder and and now sat right next me, wing around my shoulders and cuddling against me.

Poor Akaashi was probably pretty annoyed by now. Unfortunately for him, he was about to be more annoyed: the other team's setter was headed this way and from what I could tell, he had the potential to irritate Akaashi even more than Bokuto did.

Soon I found myself back on the gym floor. I didn't really mind that though. This way I could at least keep some distance between me and Genma. That didn't stop him from trying though.

Now the two of us sat on outer edge of the gym, watching all of the humans talking amongst themselves. They all appeared to be getting along, though I had a feeling Akaashi was a little annoyed by the two captains.

As I watched them, I really started to miss being human. Even if I wasn't the most social person, it was nice to have the option of talking. Until I'd become an owl though, I'd never have thought that I could make friends with the people here... Of course, if I weren't an owl hen I probably couldn't have.

A sad and frustrated hoot sounded beside me, distracting me from my thoughts. Shortly after, an unfamiliar voice spoke. “You dislike me, don't you?”


	19. Genma

Genma suddenly speaking to me surprised me. Though I guess when I thought about it, it did make sense. I mean, I was able to understand Fukunaga when he'd tried to speak owl to me, so why wouldn't I be able to talk with Genma?

“You dislike me, don't you?”

His question was one that I should have expected. I hadn't exactly given him any reason to think that I liked him even the slightest bit. But even so, I couldn't say I really disliked him. Then again, I didn't exactly like him either. “It's not you...”

“Then why?” Genma was quite calm about this, which I was grateful for. Better to have a calm Genma than the flirty one that I'd seen up til now.

“Where do I begin?” I said tiredly. In all honesty, I doubted that he'd believe me if I told him the truth. But I was no liar, so I said it anyway. Might as well have someone know the truth. “I... I'm not even supposed to be an owl. I was human and then all of a sudden I'm stuck in this little body.”

Genma nodded and I guessed that meant that he believed me. Well, they do say that owls are supposed to be wise. At least, they always say that in stories. “But that's not all to it, is it?”

“No, there's more...” I admitted. Before I could say any more though, my attention was stolen by a small group of three: the setter and ace from Aoba Johsai and the one who'd stolen my heart. He was tossing a volleyball up and down as the trio talked.

“Your human is strange,” Genma said observed, watching the three as well. Bokuto tossed the ball up, then he was distracted by someone talking to him, resulting in the ball falling right on top of his head. Beside me, Genma laughed. “He's quite an idiot.”

As much as I wanted to, there was no arguing on that. “He is, but I love him all the same.”

Things were quiet for a moment while Genma though about it. “He doesn't know, does he?”

“That I'm hopelessly in love with him or that I used to be a human that he had a crush on?” I'm not really sure why I bothered asking that. Either way, the answer would be the same. Bokuto had no idea about any of this. In fact, I doubted that anyone had figured it out yet. I doubt anyone ever will figure it out. “No, Bokuto has no idea...”

Watching Bokuto and the others, I noticed a familiar scrap of newspaper in one of the boys' hands. Either Bokuto was showing it to them or he'd carelessly lost it again and was about to freak out over the guy from the other school touching it.

“Do you want to go back to being human?”

I wasn't sure how to answer that. I did, but I also didn't. Constantly I was going back and forth about it in my head. “That's kind of complicated,” I sighed. Instead of saying anything, Genma waited patiently for me to go on. For such a flirty owl, he was turning out to be better than I'd first thought. I still wasn't interested in making little owlets with him though. “If I stay as an owl, I can stay right here by his side. But he might still miss the human me. If I go back to being human, I'll actually have the option of being with him. But I won't be able to be as close to him like I am now. Before all this I couldn't even get anywhere near him without my heart going crazy. I couldn't even talk to him at all... all I could do was just keep running away...”

Genma thought quietly for a moment before speaking. “To put it simply: you can't make up your mind.” Yeah, that would about sum it all up. Personally I liked my explanation of it, but his was much simpler. “I can't really say much since I was born an owl and I don't know all that much humans even though I was raised by one. But I'm sure that if you can completely make up your mind about which path to take, then that's which way you will go.”

That was actually a really smart thing. Too smart for me to even really understand what he was trying to say. It's not that I'm stupid; quite the opposite actually. I'm quite smart, but this was a little beyond my level. Luckily though Genma was nice enough to explain it in a much simpler way. “Basically: if you make up your mind about being human, then you might be able to be human again.”

It was merely a theory, but maybe he was right. It couldn't hurt to try it, right? Worst case scenario, I'm stuck as an owl for the rest of my life. But even if I stay as an owl, I have Genma.

Some shouting drew my attention from Genma back to Bokuto and the Aoba Johsai boys. A small breeze that had come in through the open door had pulled the scrap of newspaper out of the one boy's hand. Unsurprisingly, Bokuto chased after it.

The wind blew it across the gym, Bokuto following right behind. No matter how fast he was, it was always just out of reach and getting closer to the door. Soon it was right at the door. As Bokuto dived forward to grab it, the wind carried it up and away into the sky.

“No!” The picture that Bokuto had been so protective of and refused to get rid of was now gone.


	20. Feelings of the Heart

“No!” All Bokuto could do was watch from his position on the ground as his beloved picture drifted up and away from him. It was heartbreaking just watching him; I can't even imagine how he must be feeling right now.

As I started to walk over to the ace to cheer him up, I felt a small rush of wind and a tan blur go by. It soared up into the sky before I even had a chance to process what it was. “Genma...” I said to myself in disbelief. I made my way over and stopped next to Bokuto who was now sitting up, but my eyes stayed on the sky.

Moments later, that tan owl swooped back down, landing right in front of Bokuto. In his talons was a familiar scrap of newspaper with the picture of a girl. Genma picked it up in his beak and stepped towards Fukurodani's captain, nudging his hand with his head.

Bokuto's eyes went wide as he looked down at the tan owl. “Genma?!” he shouted out in surprise. Was he just realizing that the other owl was Genma? Well, I guess he hadn't seen him up close and was a bit distracted before.

Once more, Genma nudged Bokuto's hand, prompting him to take the piece of paper. As the ace looked at it, he was once again surprised. A bright smile lit up his face as he captured the tan owl in his arms, hugging him tightly while saying something too quickly for me to catch.

“Genma!” a familiar voice shouted out before a worn out Haruo came into sight. The poor guy looked like he'd been running all over the place; probably looking for Genma.

All eyes turned to face Haruo as he ran up to us. Tucking his paper into his pocket, Bokuto smiled at his friend. “Haruo!”

Haruo looked to the ace upon hearing his name and immediately recognized the boy hugging his owl. “Bokuto!” Both grinned as Bokuto set Genma down and stood up to greet him. Of course, the ace completely forgot he hadn't mentioned yesterday's encounter to anyone, so no one had any idea who this guy was or why he was here.

As Haruo and Bokuto talked amongst themselves, everyone else just stared. I, however, turned my attention to Genma. “You didn't have to do that,” I told him, moving to stand beside him. “It might have been better to let it go.”

“You were sad to see it go,” he said, watching our two humans laughing and joking around. “That was you in the picture, wasn't it? Are you sure you really want him to let you go?”

The sudden question was a bit surprising. I hadn't even mentioned it, yet he seemed to pick up on my feelings so easily. “It would be better if he forgot...” I said, trying to convince myself more than I was trying to convince Genma.

“I think your human would disagree with you.” I wasn't sure, but it almost sounding like Genma was laughing a little as he spoke. Without me noticing, he stepped a little closer to me. “If the way he treasures that picture means anything, I'd say he truly believes you'll come back to him. It's foolish of him, but that determination of his is admirable.”

The more we talked, the more I realized how good of an owl Genma was. In a way, he was very different than Bokuto. He was smart, really smart, and calm and... well... he was great, but... My gaze shifted from Genma to the captain of Fukurodani. _He's not Bokuto..._

“You'd be a good match for him,” Genma admitted. I couldn't tell if he really only said that to make me feel better, but that didn't really matter. If I'd had arms, I'd have hugged him; instead I settled for the closest thing I could do: leaning against him and cuddling. Genma seemed to like that anyway.

That didn't go unnoticed by a certain pair. Before I knew it, I was scooped up by Bokuto and placed on his shoulders. “Looks like Kisa likes Genma now,” the ace grinned. “So does that mean you've changed your mind about the owl babies?”

The only response he got was me lightly smacking the back of his head with my wing. That earned me a laugh from Genma and a number of surprised stares from the ace's teammates. I'd never been the violent sort and rarely even yelled at anyone, but right then I couldn't help it. You just don't say something like that to a girl; even if she is an owl.

Needless to say, Bokuto was a bit hurt by that. He even passed me off to Akaashi while he went off to sulk. This time though, I didn't mind letting him be. I had faith that he'd snap out of this one on his own. Besides, I was a little annoyed by what he'd said.

As I sat with Akaashi, he reached up and patted the top of my head; something he'd never really done before. Looking at him, I saw the slightest hint of a smile, another rare sight with the setter. When he spoke, his voice was low, only loud enough for me to hear. “You never really left, did you Kisa?”

 

What Genma said earlier had stayed with me. If his theory was right, then if I made my decision and didn't second guess it, then I would be able to find a way to be human again if that's what I chose.

It was almost scary to think about. It sounded much too simple. I doubted that it could be true. But then again, it was the only theory I had. If this didn't work, then I was screwed; Doomed to spend the rest of my life with Genma. Not that that would be bad, of course...

As Bokuto laid back on his bed, a serious and sad expression on his face. From his pocket he pulled out that old picture and held it up over his face. “Why'd you have to leave?” he whispered, talking to the girl in the picture, not even realizing that I was right there the whole time.

I made my way up cuddled next to him on his pillow. There wasn't much I could do for him, but at the very least, I could be there for him.

“Akaashi's right,” he sighed. Bokuto was rarely serious, but this was most definitely one of those times. “I know he's right about Kisa...” Suddenly I was being held up with the ace staring up at me in place of the picture. “I know it, but I don't want to give up yet. I... I really love her, you know?”

Just hearing that pained tone in his voice was heartbreaking. Such a cheerful guy couldn't be forced to go through something so sad. A sad smile made its way onto his face. “I'm glad I've got you,” he said, rolling over and hugging me tight against his chest. “As long as I have you, I'll be alright.”

Some of his usual cheer was returning, but he still wasn't quite back to normal. “I probably never had a chance anyway, but at least I have you.” He smiled at me and pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. “If I didn't have you, I don't I could have stayed strong this long.”

It was then that my mind was made up. What I wanted was for Bokuto to be happy. Whether that meant staying his pet owl or being that human girl that he was so loyal to, it didn't matter. Whatever choice would make him happy, that would be the path that I would take.

 

That night, I had a dream. As I slept right by Bokuto's side, I woke from my peaceful sleep. I felt like I was in a bit of a daze... like that feeling you have in your dreams when you know that you're in a dream.

For some strange reason, I felt like something was calling to me. I nudged Bokuto awake and flew over to his bedroom window. Something out there was calling me and I had to find it. The half-asleep ace opened the window and I gave him one last smile before flying off into the night.

That's the last thing I remembered. It was all sort of hazy, like that feeling when your mind is asleep but your body is still awake. Had it not been for the fact that I'd been flying, I might not have realized it was a dream.


	21. Zero

When I woke the next morning, the first thing I noticed was the lack of Bokuto's warmth. It was rare for him to wake up before me and even when he did, he woke me up right away. Something was clearly different. His bed even felt different.

Slowly I sat up. All of a sudden my head felt extremely dizzy and hazy, making me put a hand to my head. When it seemed to pass, I carefully opened my eyes. What I saw nearly made me faint from shock.

I wasn't in Bokuto's room; I wasn't even in my room. Frantically looking around, I was relieved to see that this was at least a place that I recognized: a park that I used to visit back when I was a kid.

As I looked around, I caught a glimpse of my body and had to look again. My body wasn't that of an owl anymore; it was back to my original human form. At first I thought that I was only dreaming, but this felt much too real to be a dream. But how had this happened?

I tried to think back to that dream I'd had. Okay, so I woke up in the middle of the night and felt there was somewhere that I had to go. That's when I woke Bokuto and... Oh no... Bokuto...

What was I supposed to do about Bokuto? We weren't friends before I became an owl, so I can't just walk right up to him and just start a conversation. But after being so close to him for so long, how could I possibly go back to how it was?

Not to mention the fact that I'd slept in his bed with him many times, heard him talk about an intimate dream he'd had in too much detail, saw him completely naked once, smacked him for suggesting that I mate with a smart but somewhat pushy owl, and I'd hear him mention his feelings for me several times. You can't just pretend that none of that happened!

Of course, I don't really have much of a choice, do I?

 

Soon I returned to school. After repeatedly claiming that I had no memory of what happened during the time that I was missing, things went back to how they used to be. However, one person refused to believe that I couldn't remember: Akaashi.

Sometime during class, he'd passed me a note asking if I really couldn't remember or if I was just afraid that no one would believe what had happened. It was then I decided that I had to tell him the truth.

When lunchtime came around, I met with Akaashi and told him everything. From the night that I had last been human up until the dream, I told him every little detail that I could remember. Surprisingly he believed me and even admitted that he'd figured something like that. When I asked how he knew, he explained it pretty easily.

1\. I'd disappeared right when Bokuto had found the owl. 2. The owl was a little too smart and should not have been able actually do math or know how to write. 3. The owl couldn't fly even though there was nothing physically wrong to prevent such actions. 4. The owl seemed flustered when being referred to as Bokuto's girlfriend. 5. The owl hit Bokuto for merely suggesting the idea of mating with another owl. 6. I returned as soon as the owl disappeared.

“I guess if you think about it, it was pretty obvious, wasn't it?” I asked, turning to look out the classroom window. From there, I could see the same tree that Bokuto and I used to sit under during lunch. And under that tree now, was that energetic ace. However, he didn't look all that happy and energetic like he usually did.

Akaashi looked in the same direction and let out a sigh. “Bokuto was really happy about that owl,” he said softly. “He loved her a lot, so he was really heartbroken when he found out that she was gone.”

Once more, that dream came to mind. Maybe it hadn't really been a dream after all? There was no way of really telling if it had been real or not, so it probably didn't matter. It's not like I could really remember all of it anyway...

“Do you think someone should go talk to him? You know, to cheer him up and all,” I asked, not taking my eyes off of the owl-haired boy sulking under the tree. It was heartbreaking to see him like that, but what could I do? I probably only was able to help before because I was close to him then, but things were different now.

I wasn't his friend. I couldn't even talk to him normally. As an owl I couldn't actually talk to him, so how could I possibly do it now? I looked to Akaashi for an answer, but he just shook his head.

“No, it's better to let him handle this on his own.” All I could do was hope that he was right.


	22. The Heart Never Lies

Three days passed by. Every day, I'd look out that window and see him sulking under that same old tree. Our tree.

It killed me to see Bokuto hurting like this, but I knew there wasn't much that I could do. I wasn't his friend like Akaashi was... I didn't even have the confidence to approach him. No matter how much I wished differently, that wasn't going to change that easy.

Staring out the window, I felt my heart aching as I looked down at the ace. Beside me, Akaashi glanced from Bokuto to me. “It hurts to see him like that, doesn't it?” he said in his usual emotionless tone. “So what's stopping you from doing something about it? Normally you can't resist trying to cheer someone up when they're feeling down.”

All I could do was sigh. “You know I can't talk to him.” I really wanted to do something, but I just couldn't.

“That's your head talking,” he said, echoing words I'd once used on him before. “What's your heart saying?”

I smiled a little. “Using my own words against me?” The words were still effective though. My head might be saying that I couldn't, but my heart kept telling me that I needed to try. Like usual, the two were on opposite sides. Maybe whatever Akaashi would say would actually put the two on the same side.

Akaashi gave me a light smile. “I believe you once said that the heart never lies. The head can create any lie that it wishes, but the heart is pure and incapable of lying.” The setter looked me straight in the eye, saying the almost exact words that I'd used on him. “So whatever it is your heart is saying to do, that's what you should do right now. If you hurry, you should have enough time.”

 

Before I knew it, I was walking towards Bokuto. Hearing me, he looked up for just a second before resting his head back on his knees. If he wasn't going to jump on me at the mere sight of me like he usually does, then he must have really been hurting.

My heart was beating pretty fast, but luckily I wasn't feeling as flustered as I used to. Guess being his pet owl for over a month really did have a plus to it. “Bokuto?” I asked, surprised that I didn't stutter.

At the sound of my voice, the third year's head snapped upward. He didn't speak, but he still stared at me. Did he not even realize it was me? I guess in his state, he was too depressed to even notice that I was back. Well, technically I never left, but you get the point.

 _Alright, you can do this Kisa,_ I mentally cheered myself on. However, I was already beginning to panic. “I...” What do I even say? Taking a deep breath, I decided to let my heart tell me what to say. “I heard about your owl. Akaashi told me what happened. He said that you loved her very much. You named her Kisa, right?”

I stopped and waited for some sign that he was listening to me. Bokuto still didn't say anything, but he nodded. “You...” My voice faltered for just a moment. _Come on Kisa, you can do it!_ “You shouldn't be sad! She wouldn't want you to be sad. And...” I wanted to tell him the truth, that I was the owl that he'd cared so much about. But I couldn't exactly just come right out and say that, you know?

Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm my emotions a bit. That didn't work at all. “She's not going to come back to you!” It was cold of me to say it, but someone had to. However, Bokuto didn't want to hear that.

“You don't know that,” he said, his voice sounding bitter, like it had when Akaashi had told him that I probably wouldn't come back.

The tone he used shook my confidence. What little courage I'd had was now beginning to slip away from me. “She's not coming back because she can't!” There goes my heart going crazy again like it used to. That's not a good sign. This isn't going how it's supposed to at all. “She can't come back because she never left! Just like I never left!”

Bokuto stood up quickly, making me jump back a bit. He looks really upset, like he wants to yell at me. That's not good at all. This isn't what was supposed to happen... When he spoke, his voice was angry and a bit cold, so different than the Bokuto I knew. “You don't know anything about her, so don't try to talk like you do!”

That did it. That single little outburst of his was enough to completely shatter what little confidence I'd had. I knew he probably didn't really mean it and that it was only his emotions getting the better of him, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. In fact, it hurt more than anything else I'd ever felt.

Tears formed in the corners of my eyes, but I tried to hold them back. I opened my mouth to speak, but what came out wasn't what I wanted to say. “Bokuto you idiot!” I half-shouted at him, my voice breaking and tears escaping.

The expression on his face changed almost instantly, but it was already too late. I'd already turned and began to run away, tears streaming down.


	23. Akaashi

I didn't go back to class after that. How could I? If I’d gone back to class when I was crying, it would only cause people to ask questions that I couldn't answer. Besides, Akaashi might think Bokuto had done something if he saw me crying like this. No, I simply just found a little quiet place outside to stay. It was nice out, so why not, you know?

Before I knew it, the school day was over. I still didn't move from my spot though. With my knees pulled up to my chest, I just let out a sigh. The tears had stopped awhile ago, but I didn't feel like moving just yet.

Soon, I heard voices from inside the building that I was sitting behind. Not far from me was a partially opened window, allowing me to hear the conversations from within. It was nothing important, just your usual smalltalk. However, I did recognize who the voices belonged to: the boys volleyball club.

I hadn't really paid much attention to where I'd been until now. But when I heard Akaashi's voice, I realized that this probably wasn't the best place for me to be. However, when the entire place fell silent and the only voice that spoke was Akaashi's, I couldn't bring myself to leave.

“What did you say to her?” Normally his voice was void of emotion, but that's not how it was now. Right now it seemed to have taken on a cold, angry sort of feel. I could only guess that it was Bokuto he was talking to. He was the only one who could really get Akaashi to show any real emotions.

I could feel the tension in the room even from outside it. I could hear Bokuto's voice saying something, but whatever it was, it wasn't clear enough for me to understand. Akaashi's voice that followed though, that was very clear. “Kisa didn't come back to class after she talked to you.”

It was probably a good thing that I couldn't see them; just hearing them was enough to make me feel uneasy. Twice now I'd caused Akaashi to yell at Bokuto and I wasn't even trying to do anything like that.

“Just how much of an idiot are you?!” Akaashi's voice was louder now, making me flinch... and I wasn't the one that he was yelling at. “She can barely even get anywhere near you, and yet she went out of her way just to cheer you up because you were whining over that owl!”

Angry Akaashi is scary Akaashi... I was really glad that I wasn't in Bokuto's place right now. “Kisa wasn't going to tell you because she believed that you could figure it on your own. She's always believed in you even when no one else did. But I know you're too much of an idiot to realize it, so I'm just going to come out and say it.”

There were two things he could have been talking about. Either he meant the owl thing or my feelings for Bokuto. “Didn't you ever wonder why that owl of yours acted just like Kisa? Did ever even think for a second that it acted a little too strangely even for a smart owl? It's because they're the same Kisa.”

“You said they weren't the same.” Apparently that didn't seem to process in Bokuto's head. Did he ever think that it was even possible for Akaashi to be wrong? Probably not. Akaashi was a really smart guy, maybe even a genius when you compared him with Bokuto.

Akaashi ignored him. “You've said that you love her, but you've already wasted one chance. If you don't do something soon, someone else is going to come along and steal her from you and then you'll lose her forever. So stop being an idiot and do something before someone else does!”

Akaashi kept talking after that, but I didn't get to hear it. I was already leaving. This was a conversation that I wasn't supposed to hear, so I decided to head home. And as I went on my way, I came across someone I certainly hadn't expected to see.

I nearly ran into him because I was so focused on staring at the sidewalk. “Well, this is a nice little surprise.” At the sound of the familiar voice, I looked up. Standing there was a familiar looking bedhead with that signature smirk of his. This was a person I probably didn't want to see right now. “You're that little cutie that Bokuto used to never shut up about. You're cuter than your picture.”

“Do I know you?” I asked carefully. This was someone I knew quite well, however I'd never met him as a human, so I couldn't act like I knew him.

Kuroo only grinned. “I don't believe we've met... or have we?” The smile was quickly replaced by a mischievous smirk. That couldn't mean anything good. He couldn't possibly know about the owl thing unless he'd managed to figure it out or Akaashi had told him.

My confusion must have been clear on my face. There was no way he knew, right? “Bokuto's quite an idiot to not have acted sooner,” Kuroo smirked, making me feel uneasy. “Poor idiot's gonna be real heartbroken when another guy comes along and steals you right out from under him.”

I quickly began searching for some reason to get away from him. There had to be some reason for me to go back the school... Maybe I forgot something.. Oh! That's right, I never went back to class and I was in a such a hurry to leave that I left all my things back at the school. “Um, I forgot something at school, so I'm just gonna...” I started to turn to head back.

Kuroo grabbed me by the wrist and forced me to turn back to him. There was a look in his eyes that I didn't like. I might not know a lot about Tetsuro Kuroo, but I do know that he was the scheming type. And right now, he had something in mind and I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

His eyes flicked up to look at something that was behind me. But when I tried to turn around to see, Kuroo stopped me. His grip on my wrist tightened while his other arm slipped around my waist and pulled me against his chest. That smirk of his was the last thing I saw before the last bit of distance between us was closed and something soft pressed firmly against my lips.


	24. Wrong

Your first kiss is supposed to be a very special moment of your life. I've always heard people say that; I even thought that myself. The first kiss should be given to the one you love and no one else. That is not what is happening now.

Why can't I move? I had to push Kuroo away, but no matter how hard I tried, my body wouldn't move. This was wrong... my first kiss wasn't supposed to be like this!

I wasn't kissing back at all, but he didn't stop. He simply pressed me tighter against him and forced his tongue into my partially open mouth. No! This isn't supposed to happen! It was supposed to be Bokuto, not his best friend! I... I don't want it to be like this!

My body still wouldn't respond. In the back of my mind, I wished for that lovably idiotic ace to come and save me from this. I knew it wasn't going to happen, but I still wished for it. Anything to get me away from Kuroo...

Eventually he pulled back a bit, and whispered to me. “You're pretty devoted to him, huh? It's a shame, I almost want to keep you all to myself.” He pulls a bit further away and turns his attention to whatever was behind me, still keeping an arm around me.

“You're a little late,” he said to the person there. “You took too long, so I'm taking her for myself.”

I had to know who he was talking to. Slowly I turned to look, and who I saw wasn't who I expected. Standing there was the one I was in love with. But he wasn't grinning like he usually was... his expression actually looked quite heartbroken.

That look on Bokuto's face normally would have broken my heart, but it gave me just what I needed. My body seemed to break free from whatever it was that had frozen it. I shoved Kuroo away and ran straight to the ace.

As soon as I'd reached him, his arms wrapped around me. I clung tight to him, hot tears slipped out. I didn't even know why I was crying, but it was quickly noticed by Bokuto. “Kisa? Why are you crying?! He didn't hurt you, did he?! Kuroo you-”

“Bokuto, I love you!” The words slipped out quite loudly, interrupting his flood of questions. I'd spoken before I even knew what I was saying and as soon as I'd realized it, my face burned red. I'm standing here, crying for a reason I don't even know and I just blurt out that I love him. What a way to confess, huh? Way to go Kisa...

For just a brief moment, all sound seemed to disappear. Everything was silent except for the sound of Bokuto's heart beating... which I could probably only hear because it just happened to be right there next to my ear as buried my face in his chest. Or maybe it was just that loud.

Bokuto pushed me away a bit and stared down at me. “What... what did you just say?” he asked, brushing a few tears from my eyes as I looked up to meet his gaze. In his eyes it was clear what he was thinking. _Please tell me you said what I think you just said..._

Now my heart was going crazy. “I...” I tried to speak, but I couldn't get the words out. _Come on, Kisa! You can't stop now!_ Wiping a few more tears away, Bokuto waited for me to say it again. Slowly gathering what little courage I had, I forced out the words that I had to say. “I love you.”

Bokuto's open mouth twisted into that grin of his that I loved so much. And before I knew what was happening, he'd already picked me up and was spinning me around. The second my feet were back on the ground, his lips were against mine.

With his arms around my waist and mine moving up and wrapping around his neck, this felt right. This was how my first kiss should have been. It felt like a moment that belonged in a romantic movie. When it ended, it felt like it was too soon.

He pulled away slowly, resting his forehead against mine as he tried to catch his breath. “This isn't a dream, is it?” he asks, panting slightly. If this really is a dream, then I hope I never wake up. His eyes close and his smile fades for a moment. “Now that I finally have you, I'm scared that you'll leave me again...”

“I never left you...” I whispered, backing up a bit to look at him. “I've always been right here beside you...” Standing on my toes and pulling him down just a bit, I nuzzled my face against his cheek just like I always did. Well, ever since I’d become an owl, at least.

His eyes lit up as he finally made the connection. “You mean... it's been you all this time?” Bokuto's smile returned and he embraced me tightly. “Promise you'll never leave me?”

This was the one place that I wanted to stay forever... safe and warm in the arms of the one I love... “Koutaro Bokuto, I love you. I've never left you before and I never will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so that's the end of the story. But there are a few moments that weren't added into the actual story that I happened to like or thought they were pretty funny. So I'm going to be doing 3 or 4 Extra Chapters plus an Alternate Ending in which Kisa stays an owl and becomes Genma's mate. I'll also mention where in the story they take place for any who might be wondering.


	25. Extra Chapter 1 - Whispers in the Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this one takes place early on when Kisa has first become an owl. Not the first day, but sometime shortly after but before Bokuto finds out that she is missing. Anyways, this is slightly on the mature side. (Personally I find this one quite funny.)

All night, Bokuto had been tossing and turning. It was quite late now, so I wondered if he was alright. Soon, he stopped and simply laid still on his back. Had he not reached over and grabbed something from his bedside table, I would have thought that he'd finally fallen asleep.

I didn't see what he'd grabbed, but I figured that it wasn't anything important. Not thinking anything of it, I laid back down on his pillow and tried once more to sleep. And that seemed to be going as planned... until a sound caught my ear.

Slowly, Bokuto's breathing began to change. It grew shallow and turned into light panting. Maybe he was having a nightmare?

Then I heard a soft groan. Must be a nightmare. Maybe I should wake him?

As I slowly opened my eyes, I heard whispers. They weren't very clear, so I turned around so that I was looking at him. One perk of being an owl: good vision at night.

But as I heard one of those whispers that was my name, I froze. It's just a nightmare... right? Looking him over, I was quickly informed that the cause of Bokuto's strange behavior was most definitely not a nightmare. Though after realizing what he was doing, I wished that it really had been the nightmare.

Seeing the tent in the blanket made by his knee being up and that both his arms were hidden under the covers, it really wasn't that hard to figure out. If you throw in the panting and the repeated moaning of my first name, yeah that leaves no doubts whatsoever.

He was surprisingly quiet, but to me he might as well have been screaming it. This was so awkward... Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the only night that I heard him doing something so dirty...

_Bokuto, I love you, but it's so gross to know that you're thinking of me when you're doing that.._


	26. Extra Chapter 2 - Seijoh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one takes place after the Fukurodani-Seijoh match. As of this moment, Kisa is with Genma and discussing her situation. Was thinking of not writing this one, but I wanted to include Oikawa and Iwaizumi's little bit of interaction with Bokuto.

“Oh? Who might this cutie be?” Oikawa hums, looking at the scrap of paper in Iwaizumi's hand. It appeared to be a piece of newspaper with an article and a picture of a girl close to their age. Briefly skimming the words, it brought up the question of why anyone would have this.

“What kind of an idiot would carry around a picture of a girl who went missing?” Seijoh's ace muttered.

Beside him, Oikawa laughed. “She's very special to someone,” he said, saying it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “She's probably their setter's girlfriend. He's obviously the only one who actually could get one.”

“I doubt it.” Iwaizumi scowled at Oikawa. The article didn't mention anything about a boyfriend, so it seemed unlikely that she had one. Besides, a cute girl like her could probably do a lot better than the morons he was seeing on this team. She'd either have to be an idiot or have a terrible personality if she ended up with any of these guys. “Someone probably is just obsessed with her and is being creepy and keeping this picture because it's the only one they could get.”

Well, he wasn't entirely wrong. The owner of the picture wasn't exactly a friend of the girl in it and it was the only picture he could get.

“What are you doing with my picture?” a voice said from behind them. After having been seriously scolded by Akaashi for the way he'd acted when the Karasuno players had found it, Bokuto decided he better act calmly and nicely. He was not eager to invoke his setter's wrath.

Oikawa took the picture from Iwaizumi's hands. He looked from the picture to Bokuto and then back to the picture. “Don't tell me she's your girlfriend,” he said, faking a happy and surprised voice. The setter was certain that such a thing was quite impossible. Bokuto, of course, was unaware of the fakeness in his voice.

“I wish...” he said softly. Bokuto really did wish it. He loved this girl very much and had been crushed when he'd learned that she'd gone missing. Because of that, he couldn't bring himself to get rid of that picture.

Oikawa hadn't expected him to admit it so easily and it almost surprised him. Almost. “She's a cute one... too cute cute for an idiot like you.”

“You're wrong.” Bokuto smiled that cutely idiotic grin of his. When he thought about the girl he loved, he couldn't help it. Sure it made him sad too, but he believed that she'd come back to him. “She's beautiful. And some day she'll be mine.”

Many would say he was being too overconfident and too optimistic, but he really believed that if he could ever talk to her, tell her his true feelings, that she would be his. Regardless of what anyone said, he wanted to believe that as long as he waited for her, she'd come back to him.

If only he knew... she'd never even left him.


	27. Extra Chapter 3 - The Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so there was a lot of hating on a certain someone for certain actions. (Could really feel the love-hate feels there.) So this chapter became necessary. Of all the extra chapters, this is probably the only important one. Got one more extra chapter and then the alternate ending.

Akaashi watched as Bokuto went out the door. He didn't like yelling at him, or even raising his voice in general, but this was what had to be done. As soon as he was out of sight, the setter grabbed his cell phone and quickly dialed the number of the only one who could help him.

The voice on the other end answered right away. “Remember what we discussed?” the setter asked the one on the other side.

“So it's time for my part, huh?” the middle blocker on the other end hummed. Luckily he didn't have volleyball practice today, leaving him free to carry out the task that Akaashi had asked of him.

“He just left, so you'd better get there quickly,” the setter said, his voice incredibly calm compare to just a moment before. “If you time it right, you should run into her if you leave right now.”

Akaashi had seen Kisa walking away from the gym earlier. Because of that, he'd made sure to draw out his scolding of Bokuto for a bit longer than he originally intended. He kept this from the ace, of course. And now, this plan relied on that small amount of distance between the two.

“I'm on my way then.” Just by the tone of Kuroo's voice, Akaashi knew he had that usual smirk of his on his face.

Even though this was all Akaashi's plan, he couldn't help but feel uneasy about the way Kuroo had agreed to go along with it so easily. He'd merely asked that he step in and use his skills as a “provocation expert” to provoke Bokuto into telling Kisa how he really felt. Even though he knew that she was already aware, nothing was going to happen unless Bokuto was the one to make a move.

“Do what you have to get them together.” Just as Kuroo was about to hang up, Akaashi felt the need to say one more thing. “Kuroo,” he said, his voice turning threatening. “Don't you dare hurt her.”

On the other end, Kuroo chuckled to himself. “Don't tell me you're in love with her too,” he teased.

Akaashi neither confirmed nor denied it. “It's only natural to care for one's friends.” Akaashi smiled a little to himself, though Kuroo had no idea. “Besides, if you hurt her, Bokuto will never forgive you for it. No matter how strong your 'Bro Love' is.”

As the two hung up, all that the setter could do was hope that this plan of his would work and that Kuroo wouldn't do anything that would upset Kisa. Because if this plan failed, then his two best friends would never get together.


	28. Extra Chapter 4 - Help Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aright, so here's our last extra chapter. Like the first, this one's a bit on the mature side.

I'm not completely sure how Bokuto managed to talk me into this. We've been dating a few months now, but that didn't mean that I was ready to spend the night at his house, in his bed with him. Though with a nasty snowstorm going on outside, I wasn't left with much of a choice.

Even though I'd slept with him before, that didn't mean I wasn't uneasy about it. Well, I'd been an owl then, so there had been no chance of him doing anything besides cuddling with me. Though there were many times I'd heard him doing things to himself late at night when I was right by his side. Not to mention the one time I'd seen him completely naked. That was so awkward... But once again, I'd been an owl every one of those times.

Luckily I managed to calm down quickly and fall asleep almost right away. Unfortunately, my sleep was interrupted about an hour later.

Bokuto poked at my side. “Are you still awake?” he said surprisingly very quiet. I didn't think he was physically capable of being so quiet.

“I am now...” I mumbled sleepily. Since I was laying with my back to him, I turned just enough to look at him over my shoulder. He didn't look that tired. I failed to see what could be keeping him up. “What's wrong?”

Bokuto looked away from me for a moment. “I... kind of have a problem...” he said, scooting a little closer to me.

“Can't it wait until morning?” I yawned, still half asleep. It didn't even occur to me to try and think of what that problem could be.

“No!” he said, his voice a little louder than before. His arm slipped around my waist, pulling me backwards until his chest was pressed against my back. Bokuto's lips brushed against my neck and he pushed his lower half tighter against my backside. “I need your help _now,_ ” he whined, nipping at my ear.

My eyes shot open. I was definitely awake now and I immediately realized what he meant. “K-Koutaro!” I stuttered, my face turning bright red. “Why can't you take care of that yourself?”

“Don't wanna...” he whined, placing kisses all over my neck. “Besides, it's way hotter if you do it.”

“No.” His grip on my waist tightened and I squirmed to get out of his grip. Don't get me wrong, I love him and all, but I wasn't quite ready to take that next step in the relationship. Obviously though, Bokuto was more than ready for it. He was literally begging for it.

“Please?”

“No!”

“Please?”

“No,” I repeated, making sure to stay as quiet as I could. Waking up his family would be the wrost thing that we could do right now. “Are you insane? We can't do that. Your little sister is literally on the other side of that wall!”

Bokuto loosed his grip just long enough to turn me around so that I was facing him. He was pouting, but he still had a hint of a smile in his eyes. “Please? I really want you to,” he begged one more time, but I refused. As much as I wanted to make him happy, I couldn't do this for him. “Then will you at least touch me? Just once?”

My face flushed a darker shade of red. As I opened my mouth to refuse him again, there was a loud thump on the wall that his room shared with his sister's. “Koutaro! Stop being a pervert and go to sleep!”

Bokuto instantly gave up on it. He just held me tightly instead. “I really love you, Kisa,” he whispered, nuzzling into my neck. “If you won't do that, then can we just cuddle like this for the rest of the night?”

“Of course.” I smiled, cuddling in closer and moving into a more comfortable position. As I did though, I noticed a soft groan escaped from my boyfriend. “Bokuto?”

A quiet laugh cam from him. “Sorry, you brushed against it just now and just felt really good,” he grinned, making my face flush red again. “You sure you won't do it?” But as I started to respond, I was cut off by another thump from the other side of the wall.

“Koutaro, shut up already!"


	29. Alternate Ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so here's the final chapter. This is what would have happened if Kisa had chosen to stay an owl. Personally I think it's incredibly cute. Anyway, it's been great writing this story and seeing all of your reactions. Now that this one is over, be sure to check out some of my other stories too. You might find one you like. I'm constantly adding new ones, so check back often!

I was awoken early in the morning by the largest of my little owlets. Renji had always been the first one awake, with his two siblings following closely behind. And not long after, Renji always tackled me and forced me to wake up.

“Renji...” I mumbled to myself, getting up slowly. As usual, my three owlets were messing around in our little home. “Issei! Renji!” The two boys, Renji and Issei, were picking on their smaller sister, Kotori. “Be nice to your sister!”

Who would have thought that being a mother could be such a pain? I quickly scolded the boys. They never acted like this when their father was around. Oh, I never mentioned their father, did I? It's Genma. Yes, the same old Genma that I'd rejected several times before.

After thinking it over, I'd decided that Bokuto would be better off moving on with his life and forgetting about the human that I used to be. So And thinking back, even though I still love that idiot, I don't regret my choice at all.

Why would I? Bokuto seems to be happy, even if he does miss the human me. And I can't say that I'm unhappy about being Genma's mate. Living in our little hollow tree with an adorable little family, what could possibly be bad about my life now?

I heard a voice calling from outside our tree. It was one that I, as well as my mate and our three owlets knew very well. The three little ones rushed over to the opening of our home and peered out.

Kotori, being the fastest, had gotten there first and stood a little too close to the edge. Issei was second, stopping just before he bumped into her. Renji was last, colliding with both of them and knocking little Kotori out the door.

“Whoa! Careful there!” said that familiar voice before Bokuto's face came into view. In his hands was my only daughter, safe and sound. Normally the little ones would have learned to fly by now, but they hadn't quite gotten their yet. Maybe that was because I had formerly been human and still couldn't fly yet.

Kotori was placed back inside and I put my wing around her. I was relieved that she was safe. Looking up at him, Bokuto just grinned back at me. He turned to look at the little owlets. “Wanna come with me today?” he asked them before turning to me, silently asking if it was okay.

Bokuto had always been so excited about the baby owls, so I found it difficult to say no. Not to mention that they absolutely adored him. So when I was met with a number of “Please Mom”'s, I had no choice but to let them. Of course, I'd be going too.

And so the four of us spent the day with Bokuto. Adventurous Issei somehow made his way up onto the top of the ace's head and kept playing in his hair. Chubby Renji kept falling off his shoulder on purpose just to make Bokuto catch him. And shy little Kotori just cuddled close to him.

She's incredibly fond of him, much like I was. In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if she ended up falling in love with him. Genma always said that it was cute how she was so much like me.

Before long, we were joined by Genma, his former human Haruo, and Bokuto's best friends Kuroo and Akaashi. As the human boys were busy playing with the little owlets, I sat back and watched with Genma right by my side. Well, and Akaashi too because he wasn't the playful type like the other three.

“You don't regret choosing to stay with me?” my mate asked.

“Why would I?” I leaned against him, cuddling close to him. Even though I didn't love Genma like I had loved Bokuto, I knew this was the best choice. “I have a wonderful mate and and an even better family. What is there to regret?”

Genma didn't answer that, but I could see the smile on his face. Together, the two of us were happy. We had each other and a beautiful family; what more could we possibly ask for?


	30. Extra Chapter 5 - Surprises

Koutaro Bokuto is fairly kind man. While he might not be particularly smart, his heart is always in the right place. That's not to say he doesn't say or so things that could really be considered “wrong.”

Overall though, I love him more than anything. Which is why I want to do something special for my boyfriend on his birthday... which just so happened to be today. The problem was, I couldn't figure out what to do for him. I mean, what could I possible do for him? I was totally drawing a blank.

In the end, we decided to just see some movie that he'd been dying to see. But since we had some time before it started, we decided to hang out at his house while we waited. That's where we ran into a problem: no one was home.

In the entire year that I'd been with him, not once had we ever been alone. Sure, we'd been left alone in a room together, but never completely alone with no one in the house at all. Doing so now... it made me nervous.

I know he'd never do anything that I didn't want him to. He... he wasn't that type... right? No! Bokuto couldn't be the kind of guy who'd do anything despicable. Or, at least I hoped so.

We sat down on his bed, figuring out what to do for the next hour or so. The longer we sat there though, the more I began to think about all those times that he'd tried to get me to do intimate and sexual things with him. I'd refused him every time and he never forced it. Bokuto might have begged for it, but he never did anything if I said no. But someone else had always been around then, now there was no one to prevent him from doing anything.

“Kisa?” Bokuto's voice startled me out of my thoughts, drawing my attention over to him. He was staring at me, so I turned my eyes away from him.

His hand reached out and turned me back towards him, followed by his lips pressing gently against mine. Bokuto's kisses were always like that, gentle and sweet, but also passionate and warm. But something about this one felt... different... more intimate.

It's not long at all before I felt his tongue pushing against my closed lips. He did this quite often, though I rarely ever let him take it any further than this. But this time, I figured that he at least deserved this much and let him in.

His tongue entered and began to explore. It moves slowly and cautiously, as is if trying to commit even the tiniest details to memory. Once it's finished mapping out the inside of my mouth, it slowly, almost timidly, brushed up against my own and began to caress it.

Bokuto knows that I'm shy and that I'm not quite ready to take that next step in our relationship yet, so it was a shock when I felt him tugging at my shirt. When I didn't do anything to stop him, he breaks the kiss just long enough to slip off my shirt before he began to fumble with the clasp on my bra.

My boyfriend stared up at me with puppy eyes when he failed to unhook it. Apparently he didn't have much experience with these, which was a bit comforting. Being unable to resist that face of his, I carefully reached behind me and undid the little hooks myself, though I didn't really want to.

After the garment was off and tossed away with my shirt, all he did was stare at the newly bare skin before him. Not once had he ever seen me without a shirt, though I'd seen him completely naked once and nearly naked on several occasions, as the former ace of Fukurodani had a habit of lounging about in only his underwear.

He stopped staring after a moment, but only to remove his own clothing, stripping down to just his boxers. It's definitely not the first time I've seen him like this, but he's never been this close to me during any of those times.

I looked away from him, feeling anxious about what was possibly going to happen. It's not that I'm afraid to have sex... I'm scared because it's Bokuto. Don't get me wrong, I love him and there wasn't anyone else that I would rather give my virginity to, but I was scared that maybe I wouldn't be good enough for him...

“Kisa...” His voice is so soft and sweet that you wouldn't think that we were in such a situation. My eyes shyly look at him, meeting his gentle gaze. His eyes are too much for me and all I can do is shake my head.

Bokuto sighed and made that face he always makes when he's denied something that he wants. “How much longer am I going to have to wait?” When he makes that face and talks in such a sad tone, it's hard to say no... If he kept it up and kept asking, I'd probably give in... even if I didn't actually want to do it. That adorable idiotic ace always did get what he wanted when he had his heart set on it.

I can't answer him... I don't even know the answer to that myself. When would I be ready to take the next step? In a few days? A few weeks? Months? Maybe even years? There was no way of telling when I would be ready. I might not even be ready until I was married and who was to say if that would even be with Bokuto...

He leaned down, nuzzling my neck lightly as I stayed quiet. “You know, you don't even call me by my first name... I call you by your first name.” If I were more bold, I would have pointed out that he had been a bit obsessed with me prior to the moment we'd started dating, so him calling me by first name wasn't that surprising. “I... I want you to do that. At least say it once. For my birthday.”

I'd almost forgotten about his birthday. Being reminded of that, it got even harder to refuse his wishes. It made me feel bad and it hurt to say no, but I still couldn't bring myself to say yes. It was a difficult position for me to be in.

When I didn't do anything, he nuzzled me again. This time though, he kissed my skin softly instead of talking. These kisses weren't any different than his usual ones, but they felt so much more intimate and they sent a funny feeling through my body like electricity.... a feeling I had never felt before.

A tiny gasp slipped out of reflex before I could stop it. Bokuto didn't seem to be stopping though and instead got a bit more bold with his kisses. He worked his way a bit lower... moving towards my exposed chest.

My eyes clenched shut. “B-Bokuto... stop...”

At my trembling voice, he ceased his actions and pulled back. “Kisa...” His gentle tone makes me open my eyes to look at him, but at the sight of his pleading puppy dog eyes, I force them shut again. If he looks at me like that, how can I possibly reject him? “Kisa, look at me.”

Slowly I open my eyes again, unable to refuse such an innocent request. His gaze is soft and sweet as his hand brushed my cheek. I still couldn't bring myself to say anything. With Bokuto, not saying no is nearly the same as saying yes, but even knowing that, I can't make myself refuse.

“You don't have to be scared...” His voice is gentle and painfully persuasive. For the first time in my life, I truly wished that he would stop talking. If he kept going... I don't think I could resist him anymore... “Kisa, you know that I love you, right?” All I could do was nod weakly. “Then you know that I would never hurt you, right?” I hesitated a moment, but nodded once more. “Then why are you so scared?”

I wished that I knew the answer to that. Why was I scared? Sure, I was afraid that I wouldn't be good enough for him, but was that really the only thing holding me back? It wasn't like I could tell him that though.

“It's okay to be nervous, you know...” His arms wrapped around me, holding me gently. For someone who was normally so obnoxious, he was always gentle with me. “I know it's your first time, so it's okay if you're scared. It'll probably hurt a little at first, but I wouldn't do this if it wouldn't feel good for you too...”

I can't do it. I know that right now is the time that I have to tell him no, but I just can't do it. When he uses that tone and makes that face... I can't resist him... Very slowly and reluctantly, I give just a tiny nod, making his eyes widen in surprise.

His lips moved down to meet mine in a tender kiss. “I'll be gentle... I promise...”


End file.
